(4) Return from the Shadows
by WolfOfTheta
Summary: Six months since the robotisization and the destruction of the World Robotisizer, things could not be further away from over. With Dr.Eggman intent on using his remaining Egg Fleet to control Mobius, the Freedom Fighters have their hands full. But unbeknownst to the tiny band of fighters, trouble is brewing much closer to home.
1. The Crystal Waterfall

**WOOT WOOT No.4!**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***Green Hill Zone. Around noon***

The Tornado touched down on a flat strip of the checkered yellow path. When it stopped, Sally and Sonic hopped off the wings and waited as Tails clambered out of the cockpit.

Standing on the wing, Tails reached back down and retrieved two monitors. He held on to one himself, and he chucked the other down to Sally, who caught it, looking surprised. The young fox also threw down an earpiece to Sonic, who hooked it around his ear and activated it.

Sally frowned at the readings on the monitor.

"Okay, so we already have a crowd at the site," she then scowled "all of them but one are artificial apparently,"

Sonic caught on pretty quickly, and rolled his eyes.

"So we're not the only ones who noticed," he muttered.

Sally clicked her tongue in thought as she fiddled around with the small dishes at the top of the monitor.

"Unfortunately," she sighed, beckoning Sonic over "now, these satellite dishes aren't very strong, so you'll have to get up close to whatever is causing the signals,"

The cobalt hedgehog grumbled slightly as Sally handed him the monitor she had, before looking off in the direction he was going

"Why can't Nicole handle this?" he said bitterly. He turned back to look at Talks, who shrugged.

"She tried. It messed with her systems," he replied simply.

Not knowing this, Sonic raised his brow. There was very little that could interfere with Nicole's systems. It must be strong, he thought to himself. No wonder Eggman was so interested in it.

Nodding, he turned around again.

"So I just hafta stay there until you get what you need?"

"Yep. You should be able to move fast enough to avoid any detection," Sally told him, making Sonic smirk.

"Well, obviously," he chuckled, stretching his legs "I'll see you in a minute,"

With that, he sped off in the direction of the signal, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

 ***soon***

Sonic grinded to a halt as the energy readings suddenly spiked. He ducked behind a large rock as he heard machinery whirring away close by. He knew this place, as he had visited it many times. A huge waterfall awaited him around the corner. Although this time, he couldn't hear the crashing of the water as it tumbled off the cliff.

"Alright Sal', I'm here. You getting anything?" he whispered, not sure how many robots were at the waterfall.

He heard a sigh down the earpiece.

"I have nothing, Sonic. You're going to have to get closer," Sally replied.

Scowling, Sonic obliged, and slowly edged round the rock. Luckily, no Egg Pawns met him, so he continued, following the unusually still river upwards. He stopped as he reached the bend which led to the waterfall, and once again used a pile of boulders to stay hidden.

There was still no noise from the waterfall, just the sound of drills against…rock? Glass? Curious about the noise, Sonic carefully poked his head round the rock to get a good luck at the waterfall.

Upon seeing it, his mouth fell open, and he stared at the marvel, completely astounded.

"Oh…okay then…"

Before him, dominating the entire cliff face and glittering in the sunlight, was a spectacular wall of crystal. Where water would usually be cascading down was now a block of shimmering colours which had taken the wavy form of the water, looking as if the liquid had frozen in a split second.

At the base of this wonder, Sonic saw numerous mechs hacking at the crystalline waterfall, tearing away huge chunks and throwing them on the ground as they dug further and further into it. Observing their progress from the sidelines, Eggman was sat back in his Egg Mobile, running his hand through his mustache thoughtfully.

Moving back behind the rock for cover, Sonic checked the monitor to see if it was still working before speaking to Sally.

"Is this close enough, Sal'?" he asked, keeping his voice as low as possible.

"Perfect," she then gasped "criminy, that's big. What does it look like?"

Sonic checked round the rock again to see if any robots had moved closer to where he was hiding before responding.

"The whole waterfall is some weird crystal now. The energy signal is probably coming from behind it. That's where the Egghead is trying to get to, anyway,"

Enthralled by the image of the now crystal waterfall, he stared at it for a minute or two. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed to him, but he couldn't place it.

"Sally, I've seen this crystal before," he began, standing up to get a better look "it looks like- _GAH_!"

Before he got a chance to finish, something had flown into him from the left, knocking him out from his hiding spot in the rocks, and making the monitor fly out of his hands and land it the river with a loud splash.

Sonic himself hit the ground with a thump, and the drilling almost immediately stopped as all focus landed on Sonic.

"Well well!" Eggman cackled "snooping as usual I see, Sonic!"

Sonic rolled his eyes as he got to his feet, dusting himself off. His assailant landed before him, and the blue hedgehog sighed at the sight of his former friend.

He broke eye contact with the mech as he looked around for whereabouts the monitor had landed, and he heard a voice down his ear piece.

"Sonic!" it was Tails "what happened? We lost connection!"

Meanwhile, Eggman had ordered his minions to close in on Sonic, who ignored them and retrieved the wrecked monitor from the water. He shook it off, but the thing was completely destroyed.

"Kate happened, Tails. An extraction would be nice, pal,"

At that moment, an Egg Pawn had sneaked up behind Sonic and had attempted to whack him with its pickaxe. Noticing this, Sonic leapt up and came crashing down on the robot's head. Then, using the crushed hunk of metal as a platform, he shot round the group of Egg Pawns as a blue blur, destroying every single one of them in a matter of seconds.

Landing smoothly on the riverbank, he smirked cockily at Eggman.

"Heh, nice try Eg- _oof_!"

Once again, he was knocked aside as the white and cyan mech caught him unawares. He dodged as the robot swung at him again and swung his leg round under it, tripping it up.

Metal Kate recovered quickly as thrusters propelled it upwards. Hovering someway above Sonic, Kate's claw hand switched to an arm cannon, and fired a bright beam of light at the blue hedgehog. This was new. Evidently Eggman had been upgrading Kate for…what? The fourth time, now? Sonic had no idea what else Eggman could add to the robot, but he had managed to do it yet again.

The red hot beam of energy scorched the ground as it followed Sonic around, not able to keep up with his pace. The beam stopped, and Metal Kate lowered to the ground, it's cold blue eyes watching him carefully.

As always, it's stare dug deep into to Sonic and made him shiver. He kept this subtle, however, as he nodded in mock approval of the robot's new attack.

"Not bad," he commented "what other cute tricks can it do?"

Eggman leant back smugly, clearly glad that Sonic had asked that question.

"Let's just say I tried to make her as…realistic…as possible,"

As he finished that sentence, the claw hands of the metal wolf sparked and crackled with electricity. Without warning, a sizzling bolt shot out towards Sonic, who dodged it with almost zero effort, a broad smirk on his face.

"Just a tiny flaw there, Doc," he began, as if talking to a child "Kate and I have been fighting your Egg Punks a load of times. I already know all of her moves,"

Another bolt was hurled his way, and he slid underneath it towards the robot. He straightened up before landing a kick squarely in the robot's chest, making it stumble back. Sonic leapt back, stretching his legs and grinning proudly.

"Like that, for example,"

Sonic's cocky attitude made Eggman's face twitch, but he quickly got over it.

"And there is just a tiny flaw in your logic, you ignorant rat! She spent three years in my base! So I know "moves" of hers that you never did!"

Sonic's face fell as he realised.

"Oh, yeah, that…"

He looked forward again, only to find that Metal Kate had disappeared. In its place, was a pile of upturned dirt and a deep hole in the dirt. Frowning, he looked down at the ground beneath him, and his eyes widened in alarm.

"Now that's just cheating,"

He scrambled aside as the dirt began to crack and crumble, but he didn't make it as Metal Kate reappeared underneath him, grabbing him before propelling them both up a short distance. Sonic didn't even have time to question it before he was sent crashing back down to the ground, hitting the hard packed dirt with a loud smack and getting the wind knocked out of him.

Gasping for breath, he stumbled to his feet, staring at his once close friend bitterly as it advanced on him yet again.

"C'mon, Kate. Gimme a break," he panted "why are you letting him do this to y- _oomph_!"

Whilst he was recovering, the metal wolf had taken a strong grip on the hedgehog's wrist and had swung him round towards the crystal waterfall. The grip on his wrist released, and he went flying towards the crystal.

He hit it shoulder-first, and managed to cushion his head. But the rest of his body slammed into the crystal with a huge amount of force, causing a large crack to shoot up the crystal fall and a piercing pain to work its way around his body.

Sonic fell to the ground, completely numb from the impact. He scowled as Kate stomped towards him yet again.

"Are you serious?" he snapped, trying his best to stand up again. When this failed, he desperately whispered into the earpiece again "Tails, anytime now,"

"Don't worry, Sonic we're really close. Just hang on,"

Sonic sighed, slightly annoyed at Tails' words. Hang on. Sure. It wasn't like he was fighting a deranged robot demigod. Not at all.

Metal Kate brought its fist down, attempting to squish Sonic where he lay. Grunting, Sonic rolled over to the side and kicked it in the leg, making it stumble. Smirking, he finished his thought out loud.

"Then again, not really showing your demigod side at the moment, are you?" he hissed as his legs protested against him standing up "right now you're more like a puppy having a temper tantrum,"

Of course the robot didn't listen as it straightened back up, readying itself for another attack.

Then, however, the most bizarre thing happened.

It stopped. The mech had stopped right in front of Sonic. It's eyes still bore into him, but this time Sonic thought he could see curiosity in their icy depths. It's head was cocked to one side as if it recognised something he said.

Sonic glanced quickly at Eggman to make sure he wasn't up to anything. When seeing the same astounded look on the scientist's face, Sonic shifted a little towards the metal wolf.

"Why…why have you…" he trailed off, before he raised his brow hopefully "…Kate?"

Once again, the robot's head twitched in recognition, and Sonic felt a spark of hope.

Although, it was short lived, as the sound of plane engines seemed to jerk the robot back into reality, and Sonic grimaced in mock apology and shrugged.

"Y'know, I'd love to carry this on, but that's my ride,"

Ducking under the swinging fist of Metal Kate, Sonic limped off in the direction of the plane engines as fast as he could, back round the bend that led towards the crystal cliff.

He watched as the biplane flew as close to the ground as it could, tipped slightly to the left to make it easier for Sonic to jump on. Shifting his grip on the wing, he looked back down.

His eyes never left the robot wolf as the plane rapidly gained height and sharply turned away from the cliff face, and he wondered whether there was away to get his friend back.

 **Well there ye go.**

 **Sorry if the title is kind of..."meh". I had no idea what to call this story. More than likely I'll change it after I've finished.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	2. The New Royal Guard

**This took far too long. Sorry for the wait ;D**

 **Disclaimer: I own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***New Mobotropolis, King Frederick Airfield***

Silver jolted out of his stupor as he finally heard the sound of plane engines, signifying the return of the three Freedom Fighters. He looked up the see the Tornado lowering as it approached, and he grimaced as he remembered why he was waiting for them.

Shielding his eyes from the sun, Silver stepped forward slightly as the plane touched down on the runway and Sally and Sonic hopped off, Sally landing smoothly, Sonic stumbling forward as he winced in pain.

As the two of them approached, closely followed by Tails, Silver lowered his arm to look at Sonic more closely, frowning at his tired and limping state.

"You've looked better," he commented, turning around to join the trio as they left the airfield "it was Kate, I'm guessing?"

Sonic's scowl confirmed his guesses.

"Who else? Also, I hope you're here because you have good news," he snapped.

Silver bit his lip at Sonic's obvious tetchy mood, as unfortunately, he was no bearer of good news. Noticing Silver's hesitation, the blue hedgehog groaned.

"What is it?" he huffed.

"A new royal guard is waiting for you guys in Headquarters," replied Silver, sounding rather distasteful "he…er…he's looking forward to meeting you,"

As he directed them away from the airfield, Sally appeared to be more interested.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked.

A nervous chuckle was Silver's response, and Sally looked taken aback as the ivory hedgehog gave her a painful smile.

"O-ho. Just wait 'til you meet him,"

soon*

Sonic pushed open the door the Headquarters slowly, having no idea what to expect on the other side. Silver hung back as the other three entered, clearly not eager to see the new guard again.

Stepping into the room, however, they saw that no one was in there, and that the door to Tails' lab was slightly ajar.

"Hello?" Sonic called out "is anyone there?"

Less than a second after he had spoken those words, the four of them were greeted by a fuzzy light pink head with deep red eyes poking out of the door from the lab.

"Ah! Yes! Hello! Sorry. I couldn't resist a look,"

The pink head was followed by the rest of the body, and with perked up, rounded ears. The head belonged to a molerat, clad in a crimson belt and boots adorned with the royal crest and he had a long sword resting in the hilt on his hip.

Immediately, Sonic noticed the confident air around the molerat, and he had a somewhat exaggerated swagger about him. Finding this only vaguely irritating, Sonic brushed it off, and held out his hand in a friendly way.

The molerat grasped Sonic's extended firmly and shook, introducing himself before letting go.

"My name is Caleb. I've just graduated from training, and I was eager to meet the famous Freedom Fighters," he said, almost in a pompous way.

Sonic raised his brow at Caleb's flattery, still unsure as to why Silver disliked him so much. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Caleb cut across him, speaking to Sally, and greeting her in the same manner before stepping back.

"I always considered joining the Freedom Fighters in my youth. Always thought I'd be a better leader," Caleb sighed.

Sonic glanced over at Sally and Tails. Both of them were giving Sonic a "did he really just say that?" look. So that's why Silver didn't like him.

Sally tensed up.

"Really?" she said casually, successfully keeping the sharpness from her tone "what makes you say that?"

Caleb retained his attitude despite Sally's obvious scowl.

"I would've stopped that wolf for starters. She had no right to do what she wanted to that Robotisizer,"

Sonic was ready to give Caleb the most snarky comment he could think of, and a brief glance at Silver told him that the ivory hedgehog was thinking the same thing. However, he decided against it. The last thing he needed to do was get into a fight with a royal guard, no matter how unbearably irritating he was.

So, keeping his expression indifferent, Sonic replied with a simple, "Uh huh,"

Caleb apparently had no idea about the tension he was causing, and continued.

"Yes, being a Freedom Fighter seems good. I worked with those in Downunda for a short ti-"

A sudden beeping caught his attention. It was the band on his wrist. Giving a discrete sigh of relief, Sonic smiled, or at least tried to. It came out as more of a distasteful grimace.

"Looks like they need you," he said, desperately wanted Caleb to go.

Laughing in a loud, hearty way, Caleb nodded them goodbye and opened the door to leave.

"Hah! Who doesn't?"

He shut the door, and they could hear his footsteps grow quieter. It was only until they could no longer hear his footfalls that Silver finally spoke.

"Now do you know why I didn't like him?" he said almost manically.

Sally was still in complete and utter shock.

"Who in the name of Chaos does he think he is?"

Tails' twin tails twitched in agitation.

"He obviously thinks he's above everyone else,"

The blue hedgehog still stared at the door, and gestured to it with his index finger.

"What a liar. If Walt had help from a dude like that, we'd know,"

A short hiss signified Nicole's appearance in the room, and she looked just as peeved as they were.

"I thought he'd never leave," she said in relief "I really do hope you came back with good news?"

Sally bounded forward eagerly with her monitor, more then glad to get away from the topic of Caleb.

"Yes, actually!" she exclaimed, but then frowned "the source was…it was…what was it again?"

Sonic grunted as he flopped down on the sofa.

"One of the waterfalls had been turned into crystal. Like the whole thing looked like it had frozen overnight,"

The chipmunk nodded before she continued to explain the findings to Nicole.

"Yes, well, the readings we got were…odd. They were similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds," she said "we thought one might be hidden behind it, but that-"

Nicole's frowned and finished Sally's sentence.

"That…that doesn't explain the problems with my systems," she murmured "did you get anything else?"

Tails piped up, his hand now on his chin in thought.

"The signal was weaker than an Emerald, so we guessed someone used one,"

Silver, who had been alternating between listening intently then zoning out, engaged in the conversation again.

"If I had a Chaos Emerald I wouldn't use it on a waterfall," he commented, before snorting sarcastically "oh! Oh! Y'know who would know the answer to everything?" he puffed out his chest, doing an uncanny impression of Caleb "the new royal guard! That's who!"

There was a mixture of laughter and groans at his impersonation, and Sonic cringed.

"Aw, jeez," he huffed "that guy needs someone to knock him down a peg,"

Sally scoffed.

"I think he'd need knocking down multiple pegs, Sonic,"

She placed the handheld she still had on the table, and shook her head at the thought of the molerat.

"I'm going to tell Elias what Caleb said," she gasped as a new thought suddenly hit her "maybe I can get him done for treason," she joked.

Sonic smirked as his friend left the Headquarters in a hurry before facing forward again. Nicole had disappeared, and the main screen had switched off. Sonic racked his head to find a topic to break the silence.

Suddenly, he remembered what happened at the base of the waterfall, and sat forward in deep thought, catching the attention of the fox and the other hedgehog.

"What's the matter?" Tails asked, leading on the console under the monitor.

Sonic shrugged, not really knowing how to explain what he saw and what he thought.

"Kate…she was…weird today," he began awkwardly, making Silver's head shoot up.

"How d'you mean?"

Sonic scrunched up his face as he tried to recall exactly what happened.

"Well, she was about to pummel me, and I said-" he stopped himself, choosing his words carefully "I said…er...I said something that would tick her off in normal circumstances-"

Silver was gripped on to Sonic's words.

"What happened?"

Cobalt looked up at ivory, the hopeful glint back in his eye.

"She stopped. Liked she recognised it. I said her name, and she knew that too," he hesitated before he proposed his theory "I think…that we'll be able to get her back if we…" he struggled for a moment "…say the right thing,"

His lame finish made Silver burst out laughing.

"What?" he said bitterly "you can't be serious,"

Tails, on the other hand, knew what Sonic was getting at, but didn't say anything. Sonic grew impatient with Silver's mockery and scowled, leaping to his feet.

"I know it sounds dumb, Silver," he snapped, making Silver calm down a little "but there's something I know about her that you don't. So you're going to hafta trust me,"

Silver squinted his eyes in curiosity at Sonic's words, but knew better than to question it. Kate had been known for keeping many sensitive secrets, and anyone who found out must have done so accidentally. So, nodding in acceptance, he lowered his agitated tone.

"Alright," he sighed, almost reluctantly "I'll take your word for it. What kind of things would we have to say?"

Sonic laughed and shrugged, making the scowl return to Silver's face.

"I don't have a clue, but have fun tryin' to figure it out,"

The next week passed rather eventful. The appearance of the crystal waterfall was followed by multiple crystallised plants springing up outside Mobotropolis, each one having the same strange effect on Nicole's systems.

The Death Egg had been moved from its spot in Downunda to somewhere over Soleanna, and was edging closer to the main town each day. Due to the Egg Fleet being so spread out around Mobius, the Freedom Fighters had been too busy trying to prevent attacks from the Egg Fleet to monitor the Death Egg's movements, and we're now struggling to find time to deal with the problem.

On top of all that, was Caleb. The new guard had been more troublesome then the group had originally fathomed, and didn't shy away from telling the residents of Mobotropolis his apparent dislike of the Freedom Fighters, and how he believed he could improve it. Visits to the HQ were more frequent, questioning the capability of the members, specifically Sally and Sonic.

Whenever they could, the small group had been taking short breaks, where they would try to discuss anything apart from the growing amount of problems they had.

By the end of the week, things calmed down a little, and on the Saturday, the group were able to take a long breather.

Once again, Sonic and Sally found themselves sat shoulder to shoulder beneath a tree by the Lake of Rings. It was midday, but few people were out and about for some reason or another. Neither of them were exactly talkative today. Being the leader, Sally had obviously taken the heaviest toll of Caleb's criticisms and was the most stressed out of everyone. The only thing that could remotely cheer her up was any comment that "slagged off" Caleb.

Fortunately, on this particular occasion, the pair of them could see Caleb standing with Elias on the opposite bank of the lake. Although they couldn't hear him, they could tell he was bigging himself up to the king.

Sonic snorted.

"He's only been here a week. I've never wanted to punch someone so bad in my life," he grumbled, glaring at the molerat with contempt.

Nodding in agreement, Sally stretched out her legs.

"He's trouble, and Elias won't have any of it," she said, looking back up at her brother.

Caleb's smug look returned as he began recounting some thrilling tale of some near death experience that he probably didn't have.

Sighing deeply, Sonic smirked.

"The fuss will die down soon enough. Won't be long before General Prower shows that idiot he's not at the top of the ladder,"

Sally chuckled, apparently amused by the thought.

"That would be amazing. If Amadeus doesn't do anything, I sure will…uh-oh…"

Sonic looked back at Sally, wondering what her problem was.

"Uh-oh?" he repeated "what "uh-oh"?"

She didn't answer, following her gaze, he noticed that Caleb and Elias had stopped talking, and were staring towards them.

Quickly diverting their gaze away, Sonic and Sally began talking in hushed whispers.

"Why were they looking at us?" Sally hissed.

Sonic let out some sort of nervous chuckle.

"They might have been looking in this…general direction not directly towards us," he suggested hopefully.

However, when they moved their heads towards Elias and Caleb, they saw that the two of them were walking round the lake, obviously towards the tree Sally and Sonic were sat under.

Sonic's face dropped in disappointment.

"Crap…"

The chipmunk began to scramble to her feet, with Sonic following her up a second later.

"Right," said Sally "you deal with this,"

The blue hedgehog gave a very sarcastic laugh and lowered his voice more as the monarch drew closer.

"What? Why me? He's your brother!"

Sally rolled her eyes.

"Exactly, I might punch him,"

"And I'll probably punch Caleb. There's no decent solution here. Let's just do a bunk," Sonic retorted.

"Stop being a baby,"

"Criminy, you can be a pain some-" Sonic stopped abruptly as Elias arrived with Caleb "oh! How're you doin', your majesty?"

Elias smiled. Luckily he hadn't heard Sonic and Sally's words.

"I'm doing just fine, Sonic," he jerked his thumb towards Caleb, who was stood next to him "Caleb was just telling me that you're going to attack the Death Egg tomorrow, and put a stop to this,"

Sonic raised his brow at Caleb, who seemed to be very proud of himself.

"W-we are?" he stammered blankly, before letting out a hiss of pain as Sally subtlety elbowed him in the side "umph! I mean…e-erm. Yes, we are,"

Once again, Elias didn't notice anything.

"Good," he said, rubbing his forehead exhaustedly "it will be nice to have one less thing to worry about,"

Caleb nodded in approval, before he himself spoke to the two Freedom Fighters.

"And I'm assuming, whilst you're up there, you'll destroy that wolf?"

Sonic's green eyes showed a glint of amusement, knowing that the molerat was so sure of himself. He leant back against the tree trunk, and grinned smugly.

"No,"

Caleb bit his lip, obviously taken aback by Sonic's denial. His fuzzy pink head dipped slightly towards Elias and he pointed at Sonic.

"If it's okay with you, may I-?"

Elias held up a hand at Caleb to make him stop and nodded.

"Go ahead,"

With that, the king jerked his head at his sister and the two of them left Caleb and Sonic at the tree, and Sally glanced back to Sonic with a confused look.

Once they were gone, Caleb turned to Sonic, and the blue hedgehog edged a little away from him.

"I don't mean to disrespect you, Sonic, but to me it seems like you have your priorities wrong," Caleb began seriously.

This caught Sonic's attention immediately, and he felt hid temper begin to rise. Outwardly, however, he kept a cocky attitude.

"Do I, now?"

Caleb nodded, obviously not noticing Sonic's anger at his statement, and carried on regardless.

"Yes. You're making your top priority to save the wolf, when it could do more damage than the whole Egg Fleet put together. You need to destroy it," he continued, the air of confidence around him suggesting he was certain he would win the argument. Sonic, however, wasn't easily deterred.

"Yeah, the "wolf" you're talking about has a name, pal," Sonic snapped "I'm not going to destroy my friend,"

Caleb frowned, running a hand over his rounded ears and fiddling with the hilt of his sword.

"I understand that. But didn't she say to destroy her if necessary? Surely you'll comply with her death wish?"

This took Sonic by surprise, and instantly made him suspicious about Caleb. The video Kate had made them had been hidden away in Nicole's files so it could be kept safe from accidental deletion. Nicole wouldn't share it with someone so new (and so disliked), so how did he see it?

Sonic pushed up off the tree trunk, squaring up to Caleb almost threateningly.

"How did you know that?" he muttered dangerously "have you…have you been looking through our private files?"

Caleb didn't seem to realise the problem Sonic had.

"I'm a royal guard. I was making sure you weren't harbouring any information from the crown,"

Sonic wasn't listening, and he smirked knowingly at Caleb.

"Why do you want to destroy Kate so badly?" he questioned, making Caleb's brow twitch as his body tensed "is she a threat to you? Want her out of the way?"

Caleb finally lost his professional attitude, and scowled.

"I only act in the interests of the Monarch," he snapped, a tiny bit of frustration working in to his tone.

Sonic laughed, not having any of it. He shoved past Caleb and began to leave, walking backwards so he could have to last word.

"Right, yeah, okay," he said, nodding in mock agreement "whatever your deal is here, we'll destroy the robot by all means, but we'll save Kate. You can count on that,"

He left without another word, kicking up a cloud of dust at Caleb as he went.

 **Ok. This chapter was longer compared to the others I've done, so sorry it took so long :P**

 **College is being demanding, so I'll start writing the third chapter whenever I can.**

 **Also, there _is_ a point to that cringey-ass molerat (although I could have made him less of a twit...oh well...)**

 **Anyway, I won't waste your time anymore with my prattling. Go! Be free!**

 **Hope you enjoyed! :D**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	3. Return of the Wolf

**Hello again!**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***The next day***

 ***Flashback***

A sudden flash of bright green light made Kate leap a foot into the air. Turning away from the kitchen cabinet where she was stood, she glared at Shadow, her eyes wide with alarm.

"You know," she snapped breathlessly "there's a door here,"

Shadow shrugged.

"You're the one who asked me to come here,"

Kate sat down at the kitchen table, still trying to calm down after Shadow's surprise entrance.

"I expected you to use the door, Shadow,"

Shadow didn't reply, and instead took a seat opposite Kate, and raised his brow from across the table, curious as to why Kate needed to speak to him.

"So," he began "what's the problem?"

Kate looked up at him, frowning at his words.

"There's no problem," she replied reassuringly "it's just…I was wondering if you were alright,"

The ebony hedgehog was evidently confused by Kate's concern.

"I'm fine," he answered simply "why do you ask?"

Kate leant forward, elbows propped up on the table and hands clasped in front of her.

"Well…you've been acting weird, mostly around me. Acting all…" she struggled to find the right word for a moment "…distant,"

Crimson eyes widened, and then carefully went blank, and Kate wondered what his problem was. She searched his eyes for any kind of reason, and was about to repeat her question when Shadow answered.

"I have my reasons,"

Understandably, this took Kate by surprise, as she evidently expected Shadow to deny her proposal rather than admit to it. She lowered her arms and rested them flat on the table so she could look at Shadow better.

"So…you have…" she muttered slowly, not sure how to respond "…why?"

Shadow retained his blank expression, but shifted uncomfortably. He thought carefully for at least a minute, not wanting to tell her anything about the ARK, knowing it would spur on a conversation he really didn't want to have right now.

"I have to," he told her firmly.

Kate chuckled bitterly, much to Shadow's surprise, before shaking her head in denial of his excuse.

"No, no. Don't give me that. You've barely said a word to me for three weeks," she snapped suddenly "give me something. Anything,"

Her slightly aggressive expression softened.

"You're acting like you don't care, Shadow,"

The ebony hedgehog's head snapped up, clearly not expecting such an astound statement. The blankness in his eyes faltered, and Kate looked hopeful, as if she would finally get a decent explanation from her brother.

She got her explanation, but it wasn't what she expected.

"I can't care," Shadow murmured through gritted teeth, a sharp edge tinting his words "last time I cared was fifty years ago, and I lost everyone I ever cared about,"

Kate was shocked to hear this, and her reply was delayed as she contemplated how to respond. Shadow's argument was reasonable, but she couldn't back down when Shadow was evidently going on the offensive. So, she steeled herself, and growled.

"Well last time I cared was _six_ years ago, and I lost everyone I cared about," she snarled, not noticing her voice rising "yet I'm the one who's willing to move past it and acknowledge the fact that no matter how much either of us try to deny it, we're related now,"

She finished speaking, gasping for breath. Her anger died down slightly, and she cringed slightly in realisation of what she said.

"Look, Shadow," she said, more gentle now "I…I've already lost a brother. I can't lose you too. Not caring…it isn't the way to deal with loss. We can get past it. Both of us,"

For some reason, Shadow looked more confused at her argument, and decided to be brutally honest.

"Caring about others means it will cripple you more when they go. So whats the point?"

Kate placed her head in her hands and groaned.

"Really full on with the loner act, aren't you?" she then looked straight at him, speaking to him in a slow, mocking voice "not everyone drops dead as soon as you care about them, Shadow,"

Shadow felt his own temper rise now, and rolled his eyes, not seeing the point in the argument.

"I'd rather not take the risk," he retorted.

Then, suddenly losing patience with the hedgehog sat opposite her, Kate stood up straight, pointing at him angrily. Shadow too stood up.

"Do you even know how much it kills me to think you don't give a damn?" Kate snarled, her ears completely flat against her head.

In blind anger, Shadow crossed his arms, and shrugged, staring at Kate's furious blue eyes with his own.

"Not my problem,"

That did it for Kate, and she lost it completely.

"I can't believe that's what you think! I've accepted it, so why can't you?"

Her voice cracked a little, as though on the verge of tears, but she didn't dare cry.

Shadow responded a second later, equally enraged.

"You're wasting your time, Kate! I stand by what I said, and I will not change my mind!"

There was a long, tense pause at this. The two siblings stared it out, each waiting for the other to make the next move.

Then, Kate spoke, her voice now significantly lowered.

"If that's the case, then get out,"

More silence. Shadow was completely dumbstruck by her dismissal. However, moments later, Kate began to shout again, this time more upset.

"I said get out! If that's what you think, then why are you here?" she snarled at Shadow _"now get out before I make you!_ "

 ***Flashback end***

Shadow leant back in his computer chair, tapping his gloved hand on the desk. Replaying the argument in his head was quite common now, and he kept thinking about what else he could have said to her to make things better.

He knew that in the circumstances, he shouldn't have been thinking that he was proved right, purely out of respect, but he knew Kate would probably laugh it off as ironic if she was there.

Another thought that constantly crossed his mind was the slight hesitation of Mecha Kate when it emerged from the rubble. He knew that reasoning with a Robian was only beneficial if one had a death wish, but he also knew that Kate wasn't Mobian in the first place. Not fully. She was half Celestial which, in Shadow's mind, would warrant her a distinct advantage when it came to battling against the effect of the Roboticizer. He knew there had to be a way to bring her back. He just had to find out how…

A loud rapping on the door jerked him from thought. He was about to ask who was there, but he was beaten to it.

"If you're not to busy moping in there, you've got an assignment,"

Needing no invitation from the dark hedgehog, Rouge opened the door and entered, shutting it behind her. She leant against the wall almost smug.

"What is it?" Shadow asked, trying to recall whether or not he was supposed to do something today.

"You were requested by King Elias himself," Rouge answered, speaking as if she was bequeathing some great honour to Shadow "Sonic and his buddies are, apparently, going to destroy the Death Egg later today and Elias asked if you could tag along,"

Shadow furrowed his brow, wondering why he was being told on such short notice.

"Destroying the Death Egg…" he muttered "since when?"

Rouge shrugged, and pulled up the other chair in the room so she could sit down and face Shadow.

"Since yesterday, apparently,"

"Do they even have a plan for this?" Shadow murmured, rubbing his forehead as it began to ache "this is very short notice,"

Rouge crossed her leg over the other, folding her arms.

"Well, they want you in Soleanna Forest at noon, so you won't have to wait long to find out,"

Shadow didn't look up as Rouge rose out of the chair to leave. Gripping on to the back of the chair, Rouge swung it round to place it back in its original position. Knowing it was unlikely Shadow was going to give her any sort of goodbye, she didn't wait, and opened the door.

The black hedgehog still didn't look up as Rouge stood still in the doorway. He continued to stair at his clasped hands on his lap as Rouge spoke.

"Do us a favour," Rouge said, becoming a little more serious "find a way to get that wolf back,"

Shadow's looked up, and Rouge could've sworn that a small smile reached his lips.

"What makes you say that?" he asked curiously. Rouge smiled at him, and gestured to his office.

"I hate seeing you sit in here all the time like a sulking kid,"

With that, she left, leaving Shadow to continue to think of a way to get his sister back.

Soleanna Forest, around noon*

As the Death Egg made its way over the tall cliffs on the outskirts of Soleanna forest, it's enormous shadow threw a blanket of darkness over the large plain below. Watching its ominous approach from behind a large boulder, was Silver. Sonic was looking round the other side of the boulder, keeping an eye out for an appearance of his black and red counterpart.

Scanning the green plains carefully, Sonic activated his earpiece.

"No sign of him yet, Tails. Keep circling the town," he instructed.

"You got it, Sonic,"

He looked around the plain again before grumbling impatiently. He spoke to Silver, not moving his gaze from the plain.

"He should be here by now," he said grumpily.

"Yeah, well, he did only find out this morning," Silver replied, not as irritated at Shadow's lateness as Sonic.

Sonic didn't reply. Instead, he slumped against the rock with his arms folded, and glanced up to the approaching fortress.

Another five minutes passed, in which time the Death Egg had covered a significant distance, and was close to being directly overhead, and Tails was beginning to get bored of circling around Soleanna town.

Luckily, there was soon a flash of green light as Shadow used his Chaos Control to appear towards the centre of the plain. Noticing this, Sonic stepped out from behind the boulder to make himself more noticeable. He watched as Shadow looked up towards the Death Egg, and then began to turn on the spot to try and find the other two hedgehogs.

When he caught sight of Sonic, the blue hedgehog signalled him, and moved back behind the rock. A second later, another green flash of light signified Shadow joining the two hedgehogs behind the boulder.

Sonic didn't greet his counterpart. Instead, he hurriedly spoke to Tails again.

"Alright. He's here. Start making your way here, pal,"

"On my way, Sonic," Tails replied, sounding almost relieved.

Shadow, meanwhile, had joined Silver on the other end of the boulder, and frowned at the Death Egg before turning to Sonic.

"So what's your plan for getting up there?" he asked, although he was more concerned as to why they were currently hiding behind a rock. Silver answered him, not looking away from the Death Egg.

"We don't. We're the distraction,"

Shadow raised his brow at Sonic, who sighed as he began to explain the plan.

"Tails, Sally, Bunnie and 'Twan are going up there to place explosives around the place ," he pointed to the Death Egg "and we stay down here to draw out Eggman and his goons,"

Shadow gave a nod in approval, before remembering his annoyance at their short notice.

"You left this pretty late. Apparently you only came up with the idea yesterday,"

At his words, Sonic scowled.

"Yeah, it wasn't us. This idiot called Caleb told Elias we were planning this, and we had to go along with it,"

Shadow chuckled, presumably at Sonic backing down so easily. Sonic rolled his eyes. Whilst doing so, his eyes locked on the Death Egg. He had no doubt that Eggman had brought Kate along, and he also knew that Shadow was aware of Kate's heritage. He needed to speak to Shadow alone.

Walking past the dark hedgehog, Sonic tapped Silver on the shoulder.

"Dude, could you go up there and keep a look out for the others?" he asked, trying not to sound as if he desperately wanted rid of the ivory hedgehog.

Silver nodded, not saying anything, before using his psychokinesis to shoot up to the top of the cliff that was behind them.

Once Silver was well out of ear shot, Sonic turned back to Shadow, talking in hushed whispers.

"Okay, so, I know you know Kate's a demigod,"

This immediately peaked Shadow's interest.

"Go on,"

Sonic glanced up to the top of the cliff before continuing.

"Right. So I was thinking that, maybe, it was possible to...er…"

Shadow finished his sentence for him, surprising Sonic.

"You're thinking that Kate's consciousness is still inside the robot, and that we may be able to bring her back completely if we were to say something that would be meaningful to her in normal circumstances,"

Sonic was shocked at Shadow's quick deduction, but nodded.

"Yeah, exactly," he said, a little miffed that he didn't get to say the idea.

Shadow jerked his head up towards Silver, who was still perched on the cliff.

"Does he know?"

Cobalt replied with a head action somewhere between a shake and a nod.

"He doesn't know about her dad, just the way to bring her back,"

The ebony hedgehog opened his mouth to speak but the sound of boots hitting the hard packed dirt made him shut it quickly. Sonic looked back at Silver expectantly, and the the telekinetic hedgehog nodded in confirmation.

"They're here," he said simply.

At his words, Sonic smirked, and gestured to Silver as a go ahead.

"Over to you,"

Ivory nodded, and turned to face the boulder they had been waiting behind. His gold eyes squinted in concentration as he raised his hands. He rose off the ground slightly as he and the rock became encased by a blue green glow.

The dirt cracked as Silver lifted the huge boulder carefully out of the ground, tearing it up from its place on the grass. Then, he shifted slightly so he was facing towards the Death Egg. He gathered his power, and then released it, sending the boulder hurtling towards the underside of the fortress.

The three hedgehogs watched as the boulder flew up towards the Death Egg. The sound of rock on metal cascaded down upon them as chunks of the boulder and some bits of the Death Egg rained down onto the plain.

As the last few rocks fell, the hedgehogs were able to see the deep dent the impact had made, and they were also able to realise that the Death Egg was slowing down until it eventually came to a dead stop above them.

There was an almost eerie silence for a moment or two, before there was a high pitched noise coming through what sounded like a speaker. The noise ended quickly, and an agitated voice followed the noise through the speaker.

"Well, Sonic!" Eggman's voice came booming out of the speaker "fancing seeing you here!"

Sonic bit his lip.

"Gotta get him down here," he muttered, before yelling up "I know, weird, right?"

He panicked as he heard plane engines growing louder, and began to shout up to the Death Egg again before Eggman could respond.

"I didn't come all the way here to yell up at thin air, Egghead!"

He honestly didn't think this would work, but Eggman must have been more desperate for a fight than Sonic anticipated. Immediately after he had finished speaking, there was a loud clunking noise, and an enormous trapdoor began to whir open at the base of the Death Egg.

Those on the ground watched in curiosity as it opened all the way, creating a gaping hole in the fortress. There was a few more clunks and bangs of metal on metal before a giant bird like mech flawlessly glided down to confront them. Right behind it came dozens of Egg Pawns and other Badniks. Among the ranks, was the flash of a familiar white and cyan mech.

Keeping it subtle, Sonic activated his earpiece again to speak to Tails.

"We've got Eggman and Kate on the field. Step on it, Tails. It won't take him long to figure out what we're up to,"

"Got it, Sonic. We're really close,"

Meanwhile, Mecha Kate had moved in front of the Egg Wyvern, where the canopy in the head had opened, revealing Eggman sat back smugly, as if he was presenting Kate as somesort of trophy.

"If your goal is to destroy my Death Egg, then I'm afraid you've signed your death warrant," Eggman said calmly, yet threateningly "my little friend here will crush you before you can even scratch that fortress,"

At his words, Mecha Kate rolled its shoulders back, preparing for the inevitable brawl. Sonic shrugged.

"Well it's a good thing we're only here to turn you away from the city," he said before turning to face the other two hedgehogs behind him "I dunno about you guys but I'm sorta in a lazy mood today. I really can't be bothered,"

In response, Shadow and Silver both shook their heads at Eggman.

"I have better things to do with my time then waste it here," Shadow stated indifferently.

"We all do," Silver added "so why don't we make this easy and you just turn around now?"

Sonic, meanwhile, suppressed a grin as the sound of the distant (ish) plane engines died away until it stopped completely, as he knew the others had landed in the Death Egg.

Now all they had to do was keep Eggman preoccupied enough on the ground to allow the others enough time to place and arm the detonators.

Sonic looked up again as Eggman replied to Silver's offer.

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline. Soleanna would make a very nice spot for a new factory,"

This is what the three hedgehogs had been hoping for. The ranks of Egg Pawns began to shift as they got into battle positions. The canopy above Eggman snapped shut quickly, and the Egg Wyvern began to flex it's large metal wings. Sonic lowered his voice to speak to the other two, keeping his eye on the forces before them.

"Silver, you take Egghead. Shadow, deal with the Egg Punks. We'll have to take turns with Kate,"

He broke eye contact with the robot wolf to make sure both hedgehogs agreed with his plan, before looking forward again and smirking at the Egg Wyvern.

"Fair enough," he said confidently, stretching his legs "let's dance,"

With that, the three hedgehogs shot forward in an instant. A blue blur shot towards Mecha Kate, a green flash began to shoot among the armada of robots and a blue green streak of light propelled towards the Egg Wyvern.

Immediately, Sonic and Mecha Kate locked in hand to hand combat. His left hand met with the robot's right, and his right met with its left, and he smirked at the mech.

"Hello again. Y'know, I don't appreciate you throwing me into a wall of crystal the other day,"

He kicked Kate in the shins, but it recovered quickly. It's claw hand swung round towards Sonic, sparkling and crackling with electricity. Sonic managed to quickly jerk his head back and grab the Kate's metal forearm, widening his eyes as he felt the heat from the electricity against his fur.

"Then again," he grunted, delivering a sharp blow to Mecha Kate's abdomen and letting go of its arm, making it stumble back and nearly fall to the ground "that wasn't the first time you beat me up, is it?"

The robot began to advance towards him again.

"Remember how you nearly got me killed?"

This did it. Mecha Kate froze mid step, jolting forward a few times as it became conflicted between the Robotisizer programming and Kate's consciousness.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and the robot gave a strange whir before lunging at Sonic again.

"Shoot, I thought that would do it…" he muttered bitterly.

Mecha Kate's swinging fist missed Sonic's head, and the blue hedgehog dodged round to back of it to use a homing attack from behind, shoving the metal wolf to the ground.

Bouncing back, he landed on the hard packed dirt and began to charge up a spin dash. He released it, hitting the robot in the legs and making it flip forward and smack the ground. He dug his feet into the ground to grind to a halt, and frowned at Kate.

"Well, I have nothing else for ya. Gimme a sec whilst I-"

Both of them stopped their advancement on one another as a high pitched beeping began to emanate from Kate, and it came to a dead stop to figure out what the beeping was.

Sonic looked around the battlefield. No one appeared to have a problem, and were all still locked in combat. Glancing back at Kate quickly, Sonic looked up at the Death Egg.

"Tails! What's going on up there?" he said loudly, but quickly lowered his voice.

"We've…we've tripped some kind of alarm!" Tails replied, thoroughly panicked "h-has anyone down there noticed?"

Sonic nodded as he turned to face Kate again.

"Yeah…Kate has….but she…oh…" he watched as Kate shot off the ground towards the Death Egg "she's coming up towards you…"

Mecha Kate had elevated quickly, leaving Sonic to follow it along the ground. He was about to attempt to leap up to knock it from the air when a dark blur hit it dead on, rapidly bringing it back down to the hard plain.

The impact threw up bits of dirt and dust, and Sonic grinded to a halt to see what had stopped Mecha Kate in its path. The dust cleared, and Sonic saw the black and red hedgehog struggling to keep his metal sibling pinned down to the ground.

"Go!" he growled "I'll handle her!"

Sonic gave a thumbs up and dashed off, bouncing off the Egg Wyvern as he did so to keep Eggman annoyed and therefore distracted.

When he was gone, Shadow smirked down at Kate's empty eyes.

"Nice try,"

With a strange mechanical growl, Kate activated it's thrusters to propel itself out from underneath Shadow. Coming to a halt a small distance a way, it proceeded to launch itself towards Shadow, who knocked it aside with his Chaos Spear.

It rolled across the thin grass, and Shadow watched it almost pitifully as it began to rise up to attack him again.

"You said to me you lost your brother. Would he have wanted this to happen to you?"

Much to Shadow's surprise, it didn't listen, and fired a crackling electric sphere at him. He swiftly dodged it. It lunged again, this time swinging round it's sharp claw hand towards Shadow's face. Grunting, Shadow grabbed ahold of the shiny blue arm and swung Mecha Kate round into a medium sized boulder nearby.

"I didn't mean what I said to you!" he growled, watching the robot stagger to its feet once again "I was too busy protecting myself from grief, I didn't think about you, and I'm sorry!"

Mecha Kate froze, and then made some more weird clanking sounds as it awkwardly began to stagger forwards, as if it was literally forcing itself to advance on Shadow. Remaining as calm as he could, Shadow continued.

"I was wrong. I do care, and I'm so sorry I ever-" his heartwarming apology was cut off as a blue green blob shot passed hin, crashing into Kate "what the-?"

Eggman's cackle followed the green thing, revealing it to be Silver.

"Ha! Walk away from that one, Silver!"

Shadow couldn't help it as his jaw fell agape with disbelief at Silver.

"Are you serious? I nearly had her!" he snapped.

Silver didn't listen as he struggled to recover from the impact. He looked very dizzy and his quills were all askew. He shook his head to clear it as he scowled at Shadow.

"Sorry, I was too busy getting hit in the face by a giant metal bird," he retorted sarcastically, before warily looking at Kate "Sonic"s got Eggman, but some more Egg Pawns just got sent down. I'll handle her,"

Despite Silver's uncertainty when finishing his sentence, Shadow nodded, and used Chaos Control to quickly zip to the ever growing crowd of Egg Pawns, leaving Silver to deal with Kate.

Two high speed impacts in less than ten minutes had taken its toll on Kate, and the robot was struggling to recover.

As Silver watched Kate's cold blue eyes gradually fixate on him, he began to feel a significant longing for the kind, gentle blue eyes of his friend. He felt angry, and upset. He stepped back as Kate began to advance on him slowly, a red hot beam of light beginning to charge in its left claw.

"C'mom, Kate!" Silver began, trying not to sound desperate "you're stronger than this! _Listen to me!_ "

He threw up his hands to block the red hot beam that Mecha Kate had shot out from its hand. The artificial red light splayed off in all directions as it collided with Silver' psycho shield.

Silver squinted his eyes against the light as he began to force his hands forwards, fighting against the mech's blazing beam. The light began to splinter more as Silver increased the force. Smaller beams began to launch off towards the others, and one of them collided with the head of the nearby Egg Wyvern, blasting the canopy clean off.

The metal canopy flew high into the air, and began to fall in the direction of Kate and Silver. Panicking, Silver instinctively moved his hands, and his shield, to protect his head, and the beam hit him in the side, shunting him back.

The canopy crashed down next to Kate. The mech took one look and grabbed hold of it, clawed hand digging into the red metal. Kate swung it round to towards Silver, who was still clutching his side in pain, looked up in time to see a red hunk of metal hit him hard, throwing him to the side.

Kate's strong swing knocked him quite high in the air. He didn't have time to levitate, and he landed on his back with a loud "oomph!" and had the wind knocked out of him. His head snapped back on impact, causing a shooting pain to shoot through his neck. The back of his head hit the ground hard, his quills doing little to cushion the blow.

The pain in his head sprung up as a dull ache at first, before it became a sharp pain pounding through his skull. He clenched his eyes shut as they began to water from the pain and he found it hard to breath. He lay still got a minute so the pain could subside a little. Then, suddenly remembering the situation he was in, he forced his eyes open.

Everything was blurry, his eyes blinded by the pain in his head, though he could make out the growing outline of Mecha Kate as it made its way to finish him off. He rubbed his eyes to clear them, and Kate's image became clearer.

Silver hissed in pain as he began to shuffle backwards.

"Kate, stop this! You're one of us!"

He knew he had things to say to her, but his mind had gone blank from panic and pain. He didn't have the strength to levitate away, and he was beginning to get dangerously close to Sonic's battle with the Egg Wyvern.

Silver faced Kate again, trying to think of anything that might get it to stop.

The clawed hand had begun to heat up again, but Silver couldn't move back any further without getting involved in the Egg Wyvern fight.

"Damnit…" he muttered as he stopped shuffling backwards. He raised his hand in defence, though he knew it would be futile "Kate, please listen to me!" he cried out as Kate came to a dead stop, aiming its hand towards his head.

"I can't think…" he breathed "Kate, please! I…I-!"

What he said next caught the attention of both Sonic and Eggman, as the Egg Wyvern had come to a complete stop. Sonic, who had just landed on the ground, grinned in admiration of what Silver said, and then came closer to observe Kate's reaction.

The robot had stopped, the light in its hand faded and it stared at Silver, as though expecting more. The ivory hedgehog was in complete shock, and felt a burning in his chest as his hope rose.

"O-oh…you heard that, huh?" he gasped, sitting up properly "w-well…I meant it, you stupid robot…"

The hand that was still aimed at Silver's head began to tremble, as if the robot was struggling to keep its aim. There was a loud clunk as its elbow slacked and Mecha Kate's arm fell to its side. After a few more jolts and clanks, robotic blue eyes flickered once, twice, three times before disappearing completely. Kate slumped forwards, but remained standing.

After a moment of just staring at the mech, Sonic tore his gaze away to hold his arm out to Silver, who grabbed ahold. Sonic hoisted him up slowly, as the beam and the canopy had both taken their toll on him

Once he was stood up, he adopted a slightly hunched position where his injuries weren't as painful, and he limped towards Kate, who had completely shut down. Sonic frowned, and turned round to face Eggman.

"What have you done?" he asked, not as sharp as he intended.

Eggman, however, was just as confused as they were, and was hitting buttons on his console, desperately trying to get Kate to start up again.

The blue hedgehog turned his gaze towards Shadow, who hadn't noticed what was happening. He activated his earpiece.

"Shadow…you hafta get over here…" he said numbly.

"Little preoccupied, Faker!"

Sonic was about to reply, but Silver had called him back, saying that Kate was making some strange buzzing noise.

He turned back, forgetting about Shadow for a moment. Once again, Sonic and Silver were stood staring at their former friend. They knew something was happening, but neither of them was prepared for what happened next.

Kate's head snapped up in a millisecond, eyes flickering back into life. But this time, they were a familiar blazing orange.

Sonic immediately knew what was happening, and he let out a somewhat manic laugh, holding out his arm to make Silver move back.

"Go! Go! Get back!"

The two of them moved back a small distance away from Kate, who had begun to let out a roaring sound, as if it was screaming.

They watched in horror as the robot gripped its head, and the scream became less mechanical. The eyes burned brighter and brighter until they were no longer orange, but white. The white light grew, and there was a deafening roar as it began to engulf the robots body bit by bit until it was completely covering it.

The two hedgehogs shielded their eyes as the light blinded them. They kept them clenched shut until the light began to burn less against their eyelids. Cautiously, they opened their eyes to find the light was dimming.

They both expected the light to disappear gradually, but it didn't. It appeared to collapse in on itself until it vanished completely, leaving behind a very shocked, very shaky, but very familiar, white and cyan wolf.

The surprise had numbed Sonic and Silver, and when Silver spoke, his voice was croaky.

"K-Kate?" he stammered, clearing his throat "Kate?!"

Kate didn't look at him. Her eyes looked dead ahead, as if she didn't even know anyone was there. Her mouth was slightly agape, and she looked thoroughly afraid and panicked.

Then, she drew one long, rattling breath, before her eyes glazed over and she fell to the floor.

 **Okay, so there was a lot going on in that chapter but I couldn't find a way to break it down.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	4. What and Why

**Oh. My. GOD. This took a _long_ time.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

She drew one long, rattling breath, before her eyes glazed over and she fell to the floor.

It took a moment for Sonic and Silver to respond, as they were stood stock still, barely beginning to comprehend what had just happened.

They reacted too slow to break her fall, and she hit the ground.

" _Kate_!"

Silver immediately dashed forward, skidding on his knees and quickly scooping Kate up his arms, resting her head in the crook of his elbow.

Seeing that Kate was safe, Sonic whipped round to face Eggman, making sure he didn't pull any tricks on them whilst they were preoccupied. The Egg Wyvern was still in battle position, but Eggman seemed to be distracted, as he kept staring up at the Death Egg, and back at Sonic again.

Knowing what this meant, Sonic connected with Tails.

"Tails, are you there?"

The fox's reply came a second later, slightly breathless.

"I'm here, Sonic," he replied "what on Mobius was that noise?"

Sonic glanced back at Kate, who had begun to thrash around in Silver's arms.

"I'll explain later," he said, looking away "I think Eggman's on your case. You nearly done?"

"Almost. We're putting the last one into place now," Tails told him.

Sonic nodded, even though Tails couldn't see him, and disconnected. Eggman was still busy in the Egg Wyvern, presumably trying to find out what was going on, so Sonic went back over to Silver and Kate.

The white and cyan wolf looked far from being fine. Despite Silver reassuring her, Kate looked thoroughly panicked, and was thrashing around wildly. Her pupils were shrunk in fear and she was making some sort of strange gasping noise.

Shadow skidding to a halt beside them diverted Sonic away from Kate's odd condition.

"What's going on?" Shadow snapped, not noticing Kate at first "what was that…" he looked down, and his eyes widened "…light…?"

His face dropped as he froze to the spot, watching Kate with confusion. Her condition had worsened. Whilst the thrashing around had become less violent, Kate was now clawing at her throat, as if trying to tear the collar of her jacket away.

Shadow dropped down on one knee to examine her closely.

"What's wrong with her?" he muttered in horror.

Silver's brow furrowed and he pulled her closer, trying to comfort her and calm her down. Although, as her eyes began to roll back in her head, Silver realised.

"She's…she's suffocating!"

Almost immediately, Shadow's arms were hooking under Kate to scoop her up safely in his arms. He rose up from the ground, keeping a tight hold on Kate. Without another word, he turned around and he and Kate disappeared in a green flash.

Silver stood, staring at the spot that Shadow had teleported, the sudden turn of events barely sinking in. The clank of machinery and Eggman's quiet, irritated tone brought Silver back to reality.

"So this whole thing was a diversion…" he muttered, sounding vaguely impressive "unusually clever for a bunch of rats,"

Sonic chuckled as if amused, but judging by his his weary tone Silver knew that, like him, Sonic just wanted to get this whole ordeal over and done with.

"Bit late on the uptake, aren't we?" he said, green eyes quickly moving up to the Death Egg, willing Tails to finish up quickly.

Eggman let out a grumble, gesturing at the spot where Shadow had teleported away with the derobticized Kate in his arms.

"I would have realised sooner, but my best mech just achieved the impossible by reversing the Robotisizer process, so I got a tad distracted," he snorted sarcastically "unlucky for you, I've already ordered a battalion to deal with your little friends,"

Sonic opened his mouth to retort, but he got cut off by Tails. Once again, he sounded out of breath, and it sounded like he was running.

"Sonic! The timer's set for five minutes! You need to get out from under the Egg!"

He didn't answer, as Tails disconnected to quick for him to reply. He glanced over at Silver to confirm that the ivory hedgehog had also heard Tails' announcement. Stretching his legs, Sonic smirked at Eggman still sat in his Egg Wyvern and the sizeable group of Egg Pawns that remained.

"Unlucky for you," Sonic said casually, mocking Eggman's tone "you're too late,"

Following his words was the sound of plane engines as the Tornado noisily made its way away from the Death Egg, being discrete obviously no longer on Tails' mind as he hastily piloted the Tornado away from the Death Egg's imminent explosion.

Watching the plane disappear over the cliff, Sonic jerked his thumb in the same direction.

"Fancy watching the show?" he asked Silver whilst watching Eggman scramble around, now panicked.

In response Silver shot up to hover above Sonic, who held up his arms so Silver could grab them. As alarms began to blare from within the floating fortress, Silver lifted his friend up to the very top of the cliff behind them. They stumbled as they dropped down, eager to watch the impending explosion.

Silver looked over his shoulder worriedly.

"What about the town?"

Sonic didn't appear to be the slightest bit anxious.

"Oh, don't worry. Sal' had a thing for that,"

Right on cue, a loud rumble accompanied multiple flaps beginning to protrude all around the Death Egg, revealing large, active thrusters all, by the looks of it, at full power, and ready to propel the Death Egg upwards.

The two hedgehogs on the cliff watched on in satisfaction as the Death Egg began its rapid ascent away from the clearing. The Egg Wyvern had already gone, Eggman evidently prioritising his safe escape over the future of his huge fortress.

The large shadow cast over the mountains became smaller and smaller as the Egg climbed higher and higher. There was still a minute left on the detonator countdown, so Sonic dropped to the grass below him, and leant back on his hands.

"So," he said quietly "can we talk about what you just said to Kate?"

Wanting to see Silver's reaction, Sonic moved his head down to look at him properly. He smirked as Silver widened his eyes and flushed.

"No…n-no…" he stammered, shifting uncomfortably "don't say _anything_ to her when we get back home,"

Sonic rolled his eyes, but didn't respond. By this point the Death Egg was quite high in the air, and was hopefully high enough to prevent any damage to the nearby town. They watched as the Egg continued to rise for a few more seconds before the tremors began.

The tremors were followed by a deafening roar as pillars of fire and smoke began to spurt out from different points of the Death Egg, bursting through the metal. There were several of these explosions, before the whole thing began to crack like an actual egg.

The cracks began to glow as the pressure from the fire and explosions caused by the detonators began to press against by the weakened shell of metal.

A few more seconds passed before the Death Egg reached its limit and burst apart in a bright spasm of fire and metal. Shortly after the explosion, the two hedgehogs watching from below covered their ears as the noise reached them, making the cliff shudder slightly beneath their feet.

Despite the blinding combination of the explosion and the sun, Sonic and Silver watched on in satisfaction, partly at the six month long problem that was exploding above them, but also at the thought of Kate back in Mobotropolis, alive and well.

 ***Thirty minutes later, Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital, New Mobotropolis***

"Sonic, we've told you before to stop running in here,"

"Sorry, nurse, but we've gotta see her!"

Sonic made a move to dodge round the nurse and continue sprinting down the hospital but she calmly held out an arm to once again stop him in his tracks.

"Who do you want to see?" she asked, eyeing both Sonic and Silver.

The ivory hedgehog piped up, sounding even more desperate than Sonic.

"Kate the wolf," he blurted out hurriedly "is she okay? Can you-?"

The hand blocking Sonic from running down the hall rose to calm Silver down.

"Yes, she is fine. I'll take you to her now," she turned round to lead them down the hall, only to stop and hold out her hand again to bring Sonic to halt once again " _slowly_ , Sonic. There are other people in this hospital,"

Clenching his fists to control himself, Sonic nodded and followed the nurse, closely tailed by Silver. Despite the nurse going as fast as she could without disturbing the others in the corridor, Sonic kept doing odd little skips every now and again before stopping himself, as though willing himself not to dart ahead.

What seemed like an age later, the nurse took them through a door. Sonic shot straight through, whilst Silver lingered to look at the sign above the door. His face fell in horror when he realised the nurse was leading them to the Intensive Care Unit. He stared at the sign for a second more before quickly following after Sonic.

He jogged to catch up with the two. The nurse had stopped outside one of the doors leading off the new corridor. She pushed down the handle and opened the door painfully slow. As soon as the gap was big enough the two hedgehogs darted through.

They both came to a dead stop at the sight in front of them. The door closed with a soft click as the nurse left. Shadow was sat next to the bed, with Dr.Quack checking round the various machines that were whirring away.

Lying still on the bed, with multiple drips and wires connecting her to the surrounding equipment, was Kate. She was no longer thrashing around, and it looked as if she was sleeping, and arms rested loosely by her sides. A mask was clamped around her muzzle, and she breathed into it softly and slowly, stopping and starting every now and again.

This was far from what the two hedgehogs were expecting, and they stared at Kate's lifeless form numbly. The sound of the door opening and shutting had diverted Quack's attention away from the machines, and he smiled warmly at the new arrivals. Shadow, however, didn't turn his head, and continued to stare at the wolf.

Meanwhile, the doctor invited Sonic and Silver to take a seat. He himself dragged a third chair round to sit in front of them, and clasp his hands together on his lap. As soon as Dr.Quack had sat down, the two hedgehogs opened their mouths to pelt him with questions, but Quack patiently held up a hand to stop them.

"I know you both have questions, but please, let me speak," he began kindly, lowering his hand "first off, I am at a complete, and utter, loss. I don't think I've ever seen anyone derobiticized in this way. Because of this, it will be hard to determine the effects it will have on her,"

Silver pointed to Kate, barely able to string a sentence together.

"So…so…is she…is she okay?"

Dr.Quack grimaced, and then shrugged.

"It's…hard to tell. She's strong. Remarkably so. Her brain is already showing activity, which is a very good sign," he then bit his lip "although…her organs, her lungs especially, haven't been in use for six months," he sighed "that's why she had so much trouble breathing. She's forgotten how to,"

Sonic and Silver said nothing, listening very carefully to Quack.

"Now, we've induced her into a coma to give her body time to start up again," he explained "the good news is that some of her organs have already begun to operate again, and if this keeps up, she'll only be in the coma for a maximum of three months,"

The hedgehogs' hearts lifted, but quickly sank at Quack's next words.

"The bad news…" he took off his glasses and cleaned them on his coat "…is that there's a sizeable chance she won't make it,"

Hearing this, Silver stood up from his seat and walked over to the door, resting his head on it and groaning.

"But," Quack continued "I've been wrong before. We'll monitor her closely. With any luck, she'll be stubborn enough to get out of this,"

Nodding, Sonic rose, as did Quack. The two of them shook hands as Sonic gave a nod of thanks. He then dragged the chair round so he was sat opposite Shadow beside the bed.

Silver took another look at his lifeless friend, Quack's words ringing in his head. Scowling, he left the room in an instant, not looking back.

 ***That Night***

Sonic's head snapped up as Kate's hand twitched, but quickly sank back to rest on his palm again as no further movement came from the wolf. He was on his own. Shadow had left at least an hour ago to report to G.U.N, and Silver had not returned to visit. Others had come a few times during the day, but none of them had stayed.

Everything was quiet. The only noise was Kate's steady breathing and the whir of machines, accompanied with the rhythmic beeps of the heart monitor.

Sonic sighed. He had barely caught up with reality. Things had moved too quickly since that morning. The rush of adrenaline he had felt during the explosion of the Death Egg and the misplaced elation at the thought of Kate being perfectly fine had died down, leaving him extremely drowsy and giving him lazy, dreamlike thought processes.

Somewhere in his tired mind, he heard the door open, though it did nothing to lift him out of his stupor. He didn't see who it was, and he didn't raise his head to greet them. It was only when the newcomer dragged a chair round to sit on the opposite side of the bed that Sonic realised who it was, and he came back to reality when the familiar, irritating face of Caleb came into view.

He sat up properly, glaring at the red eyes of the molerat. Caleb's previous statements about Kate, combined with Sonic ready to snap at the smallest annoying thing at the moment, made the blue hedgehog very frustrated indeed.

"You don't have the right to be here," he snapped.

"I have every right," Caleb replied seriously.

Sonic leant back, arms folded and legs crossed.

"You wanted her to be destroyed," he continued, unable to keep his voice steady "you wanted us, her _own friends_ , to destroy her even when we told you there was another way!"

Caleb gave a small smirk of superiority in response to Sonic's rising temper, but it faded quickly so Sonic's temper didn't rise any further.

"Strangely enough, that's what I came here to talk about," he said in business like tone. His gaze then moved away from Sonic to look at Kate, almost pitifully.

Sonic raised his brow a Caleb's strange expression.

"What is there to talk about?" he grumbled "we got her back. You were wrong. Get over it,"

After a moment, Caleb sighed deeply and pressed a hand to his forehead. Sonic wasn't sure, but if he had to guess, he would say that Caleb's sigh was one of impatience, like he was explaining something to someone for the tenth time and their skull was too thick to take it in. Sonic knew he shouldn't be making such assumptions but, with the way Caleb had been acting recently, he sort of brought it on himself by constantly acting like he had a superior mindset to everyone else.

Caleb's question came half a minute later, and Sonic widened his eyes in shock and frustration.

"Are you sure you did the right thing?"

At first, Sonic believed that Caleb was joking, but the seriousness in the molerat's tone told him that it was a genuine question.

"Excuse me?" he replied quietly, almost giving Caleb a second chance.

The molerat didn't see Sonic's problem.

"Do you think you did the right thing? You know…" he jerked his gloved thumb at Kate "bringing her back?"

Sonic let out a cold laugh of disbelief.

"You know, I can't believe you. Are you that stuck-up you can't even admit that you're wrong?" he angrily pointed at Kate, rising up from his chair a little "we brought our friend back from being a robot. From being a slave. How could that be _anything_ but right?"

Whether it was ignorance or over-confidence, Caleb didn't seem to care about Sonic's anger.

"But on the video she wanted you to destroy her, why didn't you listen?" Caleb said calmly.

Sonic was so riled up, it took him a moment to realise what Caleb had said.

"Because we-!" he stopped as it sunk in "hang on...how did you see the…that video was in our private files…" he sank back down to his chair "you had no right to look at that video,"

Caleb shrugged.

"I had the same right as you,"

Sonic shook his head furiously.

"It wasn't intended for you," he snapped. Caleb opened his mouth to retort, but Sonic shut him up instantly "no, you didn't know her like we did, so you don't get a say in what happens or what should have happened to her,"

Caleb didn't respond. Instead of looking remorseful, which is what Sonic expected, he looked a bit miffed that he didn't get his way. Scrunching up his nose, Caleb stood. Making a last minute attempt to seem better than Sonic, he held his head up high as he swivelled around and left the room without a word.

 ***Around midnight, Freedom Fighter HQ***

The main monitor flickered on as it detected Sonic's presence, illuminating the previously pitch black room. The sudden blare of light made Sonic flinch, and he flicked on the lights.

Blinking to adjust his eyes, Sonic closed the door softly. Nicole hissed out to greet him, confused at his midnight visit.

"Sonic. You are aware it is midnight, aren't you?" she questioned.

Sonic nodded, and yawned.

"Yeah yeah, I know it's late. I need to ask you something,"

Nicole's expression remained indifferent, and she appeared to only be mildly curious.

"Of course, Sonic. What can I do for you?"

The blue hedgehog leant back on the arm of the sofa, propping up his left foot on the sofa and crossing his arms.

"Have you…have you let anyone into our private files recently…?" he said, before adding "…Kate's video specifically?"

Nicole opened her mouth to reply with a definite now, but then frowned, her brow furrowed in thought.

"I'm not aware of anyone accessing any of the private files. The last time they were accessed was by Silver seven weeks ago," she explained, as though trying to convince herself instead of Sonic.

Sonic shifted so he was more comfortable. Seven weeks ago…Sonic was pretty sure Caleb wasn't around then. Unless Sonic was wrong about how long Caleb had been in Mobotropolis, then Caleb must have snuck in sometime within the last seven weeks, and had not been detected by Nicole, which was virtually impossible.

"So," Sonic continued, staring at the floor as he tried to think of an explanation "Caleb hasn't accessed them? Not at all?"

Nicole pulled a strange expression before her large ears drooped, like she was trying to remember something but couldn't, no matter how hard she tried.

"Not…not that I'm aware of," she got out finally, not sounding convinced in the slightest "I'll run a diagnostic now,"

Sonic nodded, still not looking up from the floor. If the diagnostic showed no sign of Caleb, then Sonic knew that there was something dodgy about the molerat. He just had to figure out _what_ , and why.

 **Yeah... a lot going on in that chapter.** **The next few chapters shouldn't have as much going on.**

 **Sorry it took so long. I've been getting writer's block _so much_ lately DX**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	5. A Conversation with an Apparition

**Wow I usually have something to say up here...this is new.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 **Two days later**

The wooden door to Kate's home swung open slowly, but even that was enough to disturb the thin layer of dust that had only just began to settle on the floor and the furniture. A few residents had come yesterday to clean as a kind gesture to Kate, but the place hadn't stayed that way for long.

With a disgruntled huff, Silver wafted away the dust that had begun to tickle his nose, and blew away any bits he could see illuminated by the sunbeams shooting through the doorway. Stepping inside, he shut the door softly behind him. He looked around, even know he knew no one would be there.

Breathing deeply, he took slow steps towards the table, making sure not to disturb the dust further. Drawing the chair back, he took a seat, resting his elbows on the table in front of him.

He honestly didn't know why he felt the need to come here. He didn't know whether it was the silence that he needed or the fact that he couldn't bear seeing Kate in her current state. Either way, it was her house he found himself in now.

There had been quite a lot of fuss over the destruction of the Death Egg. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of their shoulders, and the relief was noticeable in all of the Freedom Fighters, as they were all more easy going and generally more happy.

Despite this, Silver felt…let down. When he saw Kate being derobotisized and, quite frankly, achieving the impossible, he had felt happier than he had done in a long time. But when she fell to the ground, and then ended up in a coma…it shattered him.

A voice made him look up and snapped him from his train of thought. At the sound of the voice, Silver smiled, but then frowned.

"You know," the voice said "I'm pretty sure this is breaking and entering,"

Silver's golden eyes slowly moved across to follow the movements of Kate as she sat down on the chair opposite him, watching her with curiosity. She was smiling gently, and lifted Silver's mundane mood briefly. However, he quickly scowled and shook his head.

"You're not real. This is in my head," he said to himself. He blinked, but Kate didn't go away.

She shrugged and nodded.

"Uh huh. You're talking to yourself right now," she said casually.

Silver leant forward, resting his head in hands, trying to get rid of the apparition. Despite his best efforts, he heard Kate chuckle.

"Look at you, moping around in here," she began in mock disapproval "what's the matter with you? I'm in a coma, I'm not dead,"

Looking up to face the imaginary wolf, Silver gestured to the door, and sighed.

"You might as well be," he replied gloomily.

Kate grinned, half in confusion, half in amusement.

"But I'm not, though," she hushed him rapidly as he tried to object "ah, no, I'm not dead so this-" she pointed at Silver, then herself "-shouldn't be happening,"

Silver recoiled a little at her scolding, even though he knew he just got told off by himself. He didn't respond. As if sensing his discomfort, Kate lowered her voice, and spoke more softly to him.

"There are more serious things going on right now, Silver," she muttered, pressing a hand against her forehead "you know that, don't you? Like er...what's that twit's name…"

Silver thought for a second.

"Caleb?"

In response, Kate clicked her fingers together and nodded feverishly.

"Yeah! Caleb! That's it!" she exclaimed, before turning serious "he's finding a way to influence Elias, which isn't good. And, remember what Sonic told you yesterday,"

The ivory hedgehog thought back to his conversation with Sonic the previous afternoon about Caleb somehow getting through Nicole's defences.

"Yeah but…what is he doing?" Silver asked desperately before realising that the imaginary version of Kate had as much knowledge as he did.

Like he expected, she shrugged.

"No clue," she coughed awkwardly "but all I know is that you have to stop worrying about me,"

Her suddenly solemn tone made Silver's expression drop, and he struggled to keep his voice steady.

"How can I stop?" he murmured, staring deep into Kate's royal blue eyes "I don't…I don't even know if you're gonna make it,"

Kate smiled once more, momentarily erasing any doubt from Silver's mind.

"I know as much as you, I'm afraid," she told him apologetically "although, I've already done the impossible once, who's to say I won't do it again?"

Silver knew he was saying this to himself to make him feel better, but he couldn't help but feel reassured. He rubbed his eyes, trying to relieve some of the pent up stress.

He looked up to speak to her again, but she was gone. The chair she had been sitting on still rested in its original place, and no dust resting on the chair or the table had been disturbed.

At her absence, he felt the warm sensation left from her presence eb away slowly, and he felt a pang in his heart as he wished that it had been real, and that his friend had just been sat there talking to him as if the Death Egg, the robotisization, the coma, none of it, had never happened.

 **So a shorter (and weirder) chapter this time.**

 **So...I might have changed the plan I had for this story, the majority of which focused on the next few chapters, so it might take me a while to complete the next one.**

 **Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	6. Departure of the Time Traveller

**AVENGERS ENDGAME AVENGERS ENDGAME AVENGERS ENDGAME**

 **Sorry...**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 **1 month later**

"Thanks for this, Rouge. If anyone can get through to him it's you,"

"Not a problem,"

Rouge pulled a concerned look as Sonic guided her through the hospital corridors. It had been a month since Kate had gone into her coma, and the nurse the had been attending to her said that Shadow had only left once or twice, and even then he was only gone for half an hour at the most. No one had been able to communicate with him. He seemed to be locked in a permanent stupor that no one could break him out of.

Apart from Kate, things had pretty much returned to normal. Caleb had been…less, of a nuisance and Eggman had shrunk back into the shadows. The only thing still out of the ordinary were the continuous appearances of the strange crystals.

Holding open the door to the Intensive Care Unit, Sonic led Rouge towards Kate's room. When they reached it, Sonic held open the door and waved her inside.

"I'll leave you to it. See if you can get anywhere with him," he said to her. Rouge nodded, and Sonic left, shutting the door softly. Rouge turned to face the rest of the room.

Rouge had only met Kate once, but she remembered what she looked like, and she felt a strong sense of recognition towards the white and cyan wolf in the hospital bed. Beside her sat Shadow. One of his hands was resting on the bed and he was staring at Kate with an unusual glazed look in his eye. He didn't even notice Rouge enter.

She stood there for a moment, before walking round to sit in the chair beside Shadow. Still, the ebony hedgehog didn't notice her.

There was no noise except the beeping of the heart monitor. Rouge bit her lip as she tried to think of something to say. She racked her brains for a random topic to bring up that would hopefully draw out a response from her dark friend.

"Abraham's tried to get in touch with you," she said casually with a small chuckle "you have a mountain of paperwork to catch up on, apparently,"

She waited for a response, but none came. Not even a sarcastic comment, which is what Rouge expected. Shadow didn't even glance at her. She leant back, cupping her chin in her hand. Obviously, talking about Shadow's work wouldn't get anywhere.

She didn't know enough about Kate to start up a conversation about her. All Rouge knew was Shadow had been worried about growing close to the ivory wolf. She also knew about the argument. Maybe that's why Shadow was so intent on staying at Kate's side.

"Shadow," she began, pressing a hand against her forehead "this wasn't your fault. None of this was,"

The dark hedgehog finally responded, and his red eyes flitted towards the bat briefly.

"You can't know that for sure,"

Rouge moved her hand away from her head, and leant forward in her chair so she could see Shadow's face. He didn't look at her, and had reverted back to his silent vigil.

"Neither can you," she retorted "when I told you to stop sulking in your office, I didn't mean go to a hospital and sulk there,"

Shadow ignored her. Realising that, in the current circumstances, she was being too harsh on Shadow, Rouge lowered her tone.

"You can't stay here, Shadow," she said quietly. When no objection came from the dark hedgehog, Rouge shifted her chair closer to try and get his attention "look…can you give me something? I…I don't know what to do. I'm worried about you, Shadow,"

Still, no reply came from Shadow. Rouge stared down at the bed, trying to think of another way to get Shadow's attention so she could speak to him properly.

As she focused on Shadow again, an idea suddenly popped into her head. Her eyes moved to Shadow's hand that still rested on the bed. Slowly, she shifted her hand closer to Shadow's, glancing up briefly to see if he had noticed.

Stopping just short of his hand, Rouge looked at Shadow again. He still hadn't noticed, and Rouge closed the gap between their hands, lightly tapping Shadow's hand to once again try and get his attention.

Like Rouge had expected, Shadow shifted his hand. However, to her complete and utter surprise, Shadow moved his hand so it was on top of Rouge's, and he held it tightly. Rouge froze, unsure of how to react to Shadow's unexpected action. The dark hedgehog did not seem to be bothered, and spoke calmly and quietly.

"I'm not sure if she'll make it, Rouge," he muttered "and I would like to be here if she does go,"

He turned his head towards her, his blazing red eyes piercing into Rouge's teal ones. She broke his gaze, and sighed.

"I…I know this is hard for you, Shadow, but staying here the whole time…it won't change anything,"

Shadow frowned in consideration at Rouge's statement, and looked back towards Kate. He was silent for half a minute, and Rouge became worried that she had lost Shadow's attention again before he turned back, nodding slightly. Doing so, he noticed that their hands were still connected, and released his grip, clearing his throat sharply.

"Right…fine. But I get to visit her when I wish to,"

Rouge sat back, feeling a wave of relief flow through her. She smiled at her friend.

"You'll probably have to talk to Abraham on that one, Shadow, but he probably won't mind,"

 ***Meanwhile, the Lake of Rings***

"Do you think Rouge will be able to get through to him!"

"Dunno. We'll have to wait and see,"

Sonic shifted so he was more comfortable against the rough bark of the tree trunk. He was sat shoulder to shoulder with Sally, facing the Lake of Rings. Above them, Silver and Tails were sat on a low handing branch.

Sighing, Sally continued to mess with the small chunk of the strange crystal, turning it over and over in her hands. Sonic stared at the purplish rock curiously, before gently taking it from Sally's hands to look at it himself.

He squinted his eyes, holding the small lump of rock close to his face, examining it closely.

"What is this stuff?" he pondered out loud "I recognise it. I really do, but I can't place it,"

Sally nodded in agreement.

"Same here," she replied "whatever it is, if it's messing with Nicole's systems, it isn't good,"

Silver frowned, leaning forward so he too could look at the crystal.

"No one else think it's weird that this crystal messes with Nicole's systems, and that Caleb managed to get into her system unnoticed?"

The chipmunk below him strained her neck back to look at him. She pointed at the crystal.

"You think Caleb did this?" she asked, confused. Silver shrugged.

"No, but I have this weird feeling that they're linked somehow," he replied, moving back to his original position on the branch.

Tails joined in on the conversation, and faced Silver.

"I have to admit I thought that as well. It is a strange coincidence,"

Sonic, meanwhile, had finished his inspection of the crystal and handed it back to Sally, letting out a deep sigh.

"I'm pretty sure we all have that idea, but it's too risky to make accusations against a royal guard without evidence," he explained, sounding a little frustrated.

With a nod of agreement, Sally placed the crystal on the ground next to her.

"I'll have to agree with Sonic on that one. We'll have to give Caleb the benefit of the doubt until we get a strong case against him,"

Silver, who hadn't told the others about his imaginary conversation with Kate a month ago, opened his mouth to speak, but was beaten to it by a new voice.

"Oooh, who's this Caleb? Am I allowed in on this?"

Four pairs of eyes moved in the direction of the speaker; a light pink, purple haired echidna with lilac eyes.

Sonic and Sally both stood to greet the echidna.

"Sorry, Jules," Sonic said apologetically "I'd explain but the mere mention of his name makes me want to puke,"

Pouting grumpily, Julie-Su crossed her arms. Her expression lifted slightly when Sally changed the subject.

"What's got you down here, Jules?"

Julie-Su uncrossed her arms briefly to point towards the sky.

"Knuckles. He's not happy with the whole Death Egg thing," she told them, walking over to the tree to lean on the trunk "nice job, by the way,"

Sonic smirked and shrugged in appreciation of her comment. Tails seemed puzzled about Julie-Su's statement.

"I thought Knuckles would be glad the Death Egg is gone," he said, making Julie-Su scowl.

"Uh-huh. Me too," she sighed "but he thinks that Eggman will be coming for the Master Emerald now, and that it's your fault,

The blue hedgehog huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Pfft. Talk about being ungrateful,"

Julie-Su nodded.

"Yep. Some Egg Chasers attacked the shrine two days ago. Personally I think they were just stragglers, but Knuckles thought otherwise," she explained "I don't think I've ever seen him so paranoid, and it's really irritating me,"

"So…what does he want us to do about it?" Sally queried.

Julie-Su pulled a bored look and once again gestured to the sky.

"He wants one or two of you guys to go up there and help, just while the heat dies down, seeing as it's "your fault"," she yawned, air quoting the last two words.

Chuckling slightly, Sally raised a brow.

"Don't you have the whole Chaotix up there?"

The echidna shook her head.

"No. Vector, Espio and Charmy were called back down to the surface," she lowered her voice "honestly I think they wanted to get away from Knuckles' rambling, but…"

Julie-Su trailed off and shrugged. After a nervous glance at the lump of crystal on the ground, Sally rubbed her head in thought.

"How long would they have to be gone?"

Clicking her tongue, Julie-Su thought for a moment.

"Not sure…a few weeks, maybe, whenever the rest of the Chaotix come back up to the island,"

Sally glanced back at the crystal again, and groaned.

"Right…okay…I'll try and find a volun-"

"I'll go,"

Silver had piped up for the first time in the conversation. Carefully sliding down from the branch, he walked up to join Sally and Sonic.

The blue hedgehog widened his eyes in shock.

"Dude…you sure?"

Silver smiled sadly.

"I…I need to get away from this place for a while," he said "I…can't stay here whilst she's-"

He stopped talking abruptly, running a hand through his quills awkwardly. Sonic nodded in understanding.

"Not a problem," he said. As Sally made a move to interject, Sonic shook his head. No one but the blue hedgehog knew what Silver had said to Kate, so he was the only one who knew how much Silver was struggling with Kate's current condition.

Julie-Su decided not to question what they were talking about, and tapped Silver on the shoulder to get his attention.

"You're the one who can do the mind tricks, right?"

Silver raised his brow, and gave his head a weird shake, like he was nodding and shaking it at the same time.

"Psychokinesis…but yeah, close enough,"

Clapping him on the back, Julie-Su nodded in approval.

"Alright, you'll do. Don't worry, you won't be there long,"

She turned to walk away. Silver made a move to follow her, but then turned back to face the others.

"I'll see you in a few weeks, yeah?" he said matter-of-factly, holding his hand up in goodbye.

Turning swiftly on his heel, Silver followed Julie-Su towards the main gates to the city. Sonic, Tails and Sally waved him off until they completely lost sight of him behind a cluster of buildings.

Sonic lowered his arm, and frowned as he saw Sally once again worriedly looking at the crystal chunk.

"It's only for a few weeks," he said reassuringly "we still have plenty of Freedom Fighters here if anything happens, Sal'. We'll be fine,"

 **Wops, there goes Silver.**

 **I'm sure you've come to expect this by now, but sorry for the wait :**

 **Now, more than likely I won't be uploading the next chapter until after the New Year.**

 **So, I just want to say to whoever is reading this, have a happy Christmas and an awesome New Year.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	7. Stay or Go

**Hey guys! Hope you had a great New Year!**

 **Disclaimer: I own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***one month later, ???***

She woke with a groan. Her eyelids felt like lead, and her arms and legs were numb. She lay still on the cold surface for a while, waiting to see if any feeling returned to her limbs.

She felt cold. Very cold. As the ache in her head began to die away, the horrible reality came back to her. Although, somewhere in head questioned why she was waking up. What was happening?

After a while, she attempted to move. She clenched her fists and grunted loudly as a sharp pain shot through her already aching body. Her eyes watered, and she let out a small whimper.

"Just lay still for a minute, Kate, trying to move will make it worse,"

The voice made her jolt, and Kate groaned in pain again, but she felt a spark of recognition. Her strength slightly renewed due to curiosity, her eyelids flicked open slowly.

Everything was blurry, but her sight was adjusting gradually, and she could make out the shapes of furniture and a dark figure a short way away from her.

When her blurred vision improved to being slightly fuzzy, Kate shifted her head to observe the position she was in. She was near the door of the Freedom Fighter Headquarters, sprawled out across the floor. She frowned, before remembering how she collapsed here as her robotic self advanced towards her friends and took over.

She clenched and opened her fists, trying to get the feeling back, and once again tried to move her arms and legs. She managed to prop herself up on her elbows, and tilted her head towards the speaker.

Upon seeing who had spoken, Kate laughed bitterly.

"O-ho. Look who it is. Long time, no see, dad,"

The dark figure Kate was addressing was a jet black dog with blazing orange eyes. He, like Kate, had a cyan patch on his tail. He was wearing navy blue boots and gloves and his ebony fur appeared to be dotted with what looked like stars.

At Kate's statement, his large ears flattened slightly.

"Kate, I understand you might hold some resentment towards me, but-"

Kate laughed again as she sat back on her knees, but stopped for a minute as she tried to command her legs to move.

"Resentment? Towards you? What for?" she said in mock confusion "could it be for completely abandoning me for six years? Leaving me to deal with grief after mum and James died? Or maybe it could be because you left me to deal with unstable celestial genetics," she paused to see her father's reaction "but...no. I can't think of any reason why I should "resent" you,"

Sirius looked slightly taken aback as Kate made her wobbly ascent, but didn't let it show for long. He nodded in understanding as Kate approached him.

"Your…your mother's death took me by surprise, as did your brother's," he shivered, but brushed it off "but…but that's in the past, and not of concern right now,"

Deciding to drop the subject, Kate stared around and frowned at Sirius.

"What is this place? I mean, I know this isn't HQ,"

Sirius' dog ears perked up, glad for a change in topic. He too examined the room they were in, and shrugged.

"You know…I'm not actually sure," he replied "I'm guessing a celestial plain of some kind,"

He watched as his daughter limped past him, standing in front of the large monitor screen. She placed a hand on it curiously, and glanced at Sirius with worried eyes.

"And…where am I?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, Sirius pushed himself off the wall and began to pace slowly.

"You're in a coma. One of your friends gave me the catalyst I needed to derobotisize you," he explained "Silver, I think his name was,"

Kate opened her mouth to interject, but Sirius cut her off sharply, and cleared his throat rather awkwardly.

"You can er…you can find out what he said yourself," he added "anyway, you've…you've not been recovering well as of late, and...the outlook isn't looking good,"

The white and cyan wolf widened her eyes in fear, but glossed it over as she adopted a sarcastic manner.

"And…what? You've come to welcome me?"

Sirius shook his head and stopped pacing.

"No, I'm here to offer you a choice," he told her, taking her completely by surprise "a choice of whether to stay, or to go,"

Kate thought for a moment, and stepped away from the screen.

"And by" go", you mean…" she hesitated "…die"

Sirius nodded, and Kate took a seat on the sofa, crossing her legs and running a hand through the cyan fur on her forehead.

"Why?"

After a moment of consideration, her father walked round and sat down besides Kate.

"I know you think little of me, Kate, but I have recently been checking on you, especially after you joined the Freedom Fighters," he said quietly "and in the time I've actually been keeping an eye on you, I've seen you become incredibly close to those friends of yours, and vice versa,"

Kate snorted, and Sirius raised his brow.

"I've been with them for what, four months? That's no where near enough time to-"

"No, no, Kate, listen," Sirius interrupted "it's what you do in that time that matters, and I honestly believe that in that time you've created a family again," he hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder "and to tear you away from them without giving you a choice seemed wrong,"

Kate sat back, breathing shakily. This was it. She could either wake up from the coma, or let herself go. Her heart lifted at the thought of seeing her family, but it then sank at the thought of never seeing her friends again. The headache was returning. This was happening too fast. How in the name of Chaos was she supposed to choose?

She opened her mouth, but all words failed her. She jerked her shoulder away from Sirius' hand and leant forward, her head in her hands, weighing up the two options she had. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke, her voice slightly muffled.

"What do you think I should do?"

She sat back again, and looked at the dog sat next to her, her eyes watery and red. Sirius gave a sad smile.

"It doesn't matter what I think," he said, rather reluctantly, his orange eyes meeting her blue ones "because you've already made up your mind, haven't you?"

At his words, Kate slowly closed her eyes and trembled slightly. She hesitated for a moment, before she gave a small nod. Sirius widened his eyes a little, before he frowned.

"Kate…you have to be sure," he told her, his voice quiet and gentle "it's…it's very unlikely you'll see them again,"

Kate's ears drooped, she took a deep breath, and shakily exhaled. Her eyes opened, and she had a long look around the headquarters before looking at Sirius again. She gave an almost determined nod.

"I'm sure,"

 ***Intensive Care Unit, Tommy Turtle Memorial Hospital***

Shadow gave a grunt as he shifted into a more comfortable position. He moved so his head was resting on his arm on the bed. The chair he was on was right next to Kate's bed, but he still had to lean forward to place his head down. Despite the ache in his back, he was beginning to dose off, listening to the hypnotic, steady beat of the heart monitor.

It was very late, and the only light in the room was the lamp in the corner. Shadow had been here since midday, and was losing the battle against his drowsiness. He let his mind drift off as he gave in and began to fall asleep.

On the bed, Kate's hand twitched, but Shadow didn't notice. It twitched again, this time shifting the bed cover slightly, but Shadow still continued to drift off.

Then, slowly, Kate's hand lazily dragged itself away from its original place on her chest, and slipped down the bed cover towards where Shadow was sleeping. It fell rather quickly, and hit Shadow's arm.

The unexpected contact had Shadow awake in an instant. His head shot up, red eyes looking around for the other person in the room. Frowning, his gaze moved down. His eyes moved over Kate's peaceful expression and then he looked down towards her hand. He started at it blankly for a minute before it hit him.

Her hand had moved.

His heart hammering away, he pulled the chair as close as he could to the bed, gripping the hand that had moved with both of his own. He examined her for a few minutes to see if she shifted again. He leant closer.

"Kate?"

His quiet whisper triggered some sort of response, and Kate inhaled sharply. Her breathing quickened, and her eyelids appeared to be trembling, like she was afraid to open them.

"It's okay," Shadow whispered "you're fine,"

Her breathing slowed, and Shadow felt a bit of relief as Kate calmed down a little, but she still didn't open her eyes. Just then, for a split second, Shadow caught a glimpse of her blue eyes before she quickly clenched them shut again.

Shadow's brow furrowed, and he wondered if he had nodded off and was dreaming this. He brushed this thought aside quickly, however, as he was overcome with an unusual optimistic attitude.

He looked around desperately, wondering why she was so reluctant to open her eyes. His gaze landed on the lamp, and he leapt out of the chair like he had been given an electric shock. He rapidly switched off the lamp, and was back by the bedside in an instant.

This made a difference, as Kate's eyes were no longer clenched shut. In fact, she wasn't making any movement at all. Shadow's optimism began to fade, and he sat back. Perhaps, he thought, perhaps it was just a blip. Maybe she was dreaming. She was a demigod, after all, who knew how her mind worked.

However, just as he was about to go back to sleep, the unexpected happened.

Kate moved her head to the left, towards him. The hand hanging off the side of the bed clenched and unclenched before her eyelids began to tremble once again.

Then, slowly, reluctantly, she opened her eyes.

Her eyelids only lifted halfway, but that was enough for Shadow to lose it. He widened his eyes, once again gripping Kate's hand. He didn't dare make a noise in the fear that he would scare her. Kate, on the other hand, looked at him with a dazed, confused look in her eye, and Shadow's heart dropped. Did she remember him? Did she remember anything?

"Kate?" he asked quietly "Kate?"

She stared at him for a moment more, and Shadow was beginning to think that she had lost her memory when she managed to get out one word, her voice croaky and hoarse.

"Sh-Sh…" she breathed, barely loud enough for Shadow to hear "…Shadow…?"

At her voice, Shadow let out a weird, manic laugh, something which was very uncharacteristic of him. Kate's bright eyes darted around, and she began to tremble.

"W-w-where…a-am…I-I-I?" she stammered.

Shadow patted her hand reassuringly, his gaze not leaving her for a second.

"You're fine. Don't worry. You're absolutely fine,"

 **Lol I had no idea what I was doing with this.**

 **But hey! Kate's back now! (Isthatagoodthing?)**

 **Anywho, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	8. Good to be Back

**_So I might have forgotton this existed..._**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***The next day***

"A sting mission? Tonight? No way. I have stuff to do,"

Sally raised her brow.

"Uh huh. What "stuff"?"

Sonic shrugged.

"Dunno. Anything that stops me from doing the sting mission,"

Rolling her eyes, Sally nudged the blue hedgehog with her shoulder as they walked, slightly annoyed.

"C'mon, Sonic! 'Twan and Bunnie agreed to it!"

An agitated cough arose from behind them.

"Ahem...I think you'll find zat we did _not_ agree with zhis," Antoine told her grumpily.

Bunnie chuckled as the four friends turned a corner, heading to the main gates of the city.

"Really, Sal'? That ol' Egghead is havin' one of 'is sulkin' sessions again. Ah don' think we need to worry 'bout 'im for a while yet,"

The chipmunk spun round so she was walking backwards to reply to Bunnie.

"Yeah…and what happened the last time he went into a sulking session?"

"He built a giant egg, and we kicked his butt again," Sonic answered quickly as Sally faced forward again "seriously, Sal', we don't have to worry about him right now,"

That was right. They didn't. Eggman was surprisingly low on their priority list. The crystallised plants had escalated to sightings of golems made out of the same crystal. Caleb's apparent dislike of the Freedom Fighters had turned into rumour-spreading, and Elias wasn't doing anything about it, despite being aware. So, right now, worrying about Eggman was pointless.

Sensing an end to the conversation, Sally didn't say anything. Sonic perked up, and attempted to lift the mood.

"What do you think he does?" he said suddenly "apart from annoying and planning to destroy us, I mean,"

No one responded for a minute, suddenly plunged into deep thought by Sonic's question.

"Honestly," Antoine began "zat has never crossed my mind,"

"Ah've thought 'bout it a few times," Bunnie told them "maybe he watches movies or somethin',"

Sally smirked.

"Really? What type does he watch, d'you think?"

Sniggering, Sonic piped up.

"For some reason, he strikes me as the rom-com type,"

The others burst out laughing as the small group passed the hospital, where Dr. Quack was speaking to a nurse on a bench. Hearing their laughter, he spun around and bid goodbye to the nurse. He slowly approached.

"Ah! Sonic! There you are! Could I borrow you for a minute?"

The laughter stopped rather abruptly, and Sonic frowned. Quack's expression was hard to read. He looked as if he was trying to mask something. Whether it was confusion, upset or something else, it made Sonic uneasy, and he had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Nevertheless, he replied cheerfully.

"Sure! No problem, Doc,"

Sensing Sonic's hesitation, Sally waved Antoine and Bunnie on.

"You guys go. We'll catch up," she said quietly before turning to Sonic to see his worried expression "it should be fine,"

Dr.Quack smiled, and turned around towards the entrance of the hospital, motioning for Sonic and Sally to follow him. They trailed slowly behind him, mimicking his slow pace. Once inside, he led them through a set of doors to the right of the reception, towards the Intensive Care Unit.

Once inside the short corridor, Quack led them down towards Intensive Care, and Sonic became even more worried. What was wrong? Had Kate gotten worse?

However, halfway through the corridor, Quack veered off to the left, through a new set of doors. Sally followed him without question, but Sonic lagged behind for a second. Sally frowned at him, holding the door open, and Sonic jerked his thumb towards Intensive Care.

"Uh…Doc? Isn't Kate's room this way?"

Quack shook his head.

"It was. But she's been moved,"

He plodded onwards without another word. Sonic shrugged at Sally and walked through the open doorway.

This corridor had fewer room doors leading off of it, with large frosted glass panels beside each door. A few of the doors were open, and voices could be heard from the inside.

"Sonic..." Sally began slowly "I think…I think this is an aftercare ward or something…"

Furrowing his brow at Sally, Sonic frowned before looking up to find Dr.Quack again. The duck had stopped outside of an open door, inviting them inside. Aftercare? Did that include coma patients? Or just ones that had had operations or something?

The empty feeling in his stomach had turned into burning curiosity, and he jogged to catch up with Quack. Stopping just before the doorway, he took a deep breath, before tentatively edging into the room.

It was large, at least twice as big as the one Kate had previously occupied. There were two beds, one of which was empty and situated at the far side of the room, separated from the bed closest to door by a railing on the ceiling which would usually bear a large curtain.

On the bed closest to the door, tired and worn out looking, was Kate. She had managed to prop herself up using the pillows, and was staring at the wall with exhausted eyes. However, when she noticed the astounded blue hedgehog at the door, her expression lifted, and she shifted so she was sat up straighter against the pillows.

She smiled at her two friends almost sheepishly.

"Well…uh…" she began, her voice quiet and hoarse "…how've things been with you guys?"

Sonic said nothing, and was frozen on the spot for half a minute. Before Kate could speak again, Sonic darted forwards, throwing his arms around the shocked wolf. Kate chuckled quietly as she returned the hug, patting Sonic on the back weakly. Sonic stayed there for another minute until Kate let out an odd choking sound.

"C-careful, Sonic," she said, her voice slightly muffled against Sonic's shoulder "I've only just got these ribs back,"

Loosening his embrace around Kate, Sonic backed away, and Kate shared another hug with Sally, although this one didn't last as long. When both the hedgehog and the chipmunk has taken a seat besides the bed, Sonic placed his head in his hands.

"Never… _never_ do that again," he murmured, letting out a relieved chuckle "don't even _think_ about doing that ever again,"

Kate smiled softly as Sonic lifted his head up.

"Trust me, Sonic, I'm in no rush to repeat that," she shivered slightly and breathed deeply "I didn't…I didn't hurt anyone…y'know…badly, did I? Is everyone okay?"

Immediately, several instances of Mecha Kate almost seriously injuring them popped up in Sonic's mind. He banished these thoughts quickly though, sparing Kate the guilt.

"Everyone's fine, Kate. Don't worry,"

Kate squinted her eyes at him for a second before dropping it. With a grunt, she repositioned herself into a more comfortable position on the pillows. Sonic and Sally were astounded by Kate's remarkable recovery, and Sonic especially couldn't help think that it was too good to be true.

"So…you're okay?" he asked "you're fine? Is there anything wrong, or…?"

He trailed off, and Kate gave a quite snort.

"Meh…there were some exit costs…"

She gave them both a tired smile and suppressed a yawn. She slumped a little on the pillows.

"Exit costs?" Sally replied "what do you mean? If you don't mind me asking,"

Kate gave a small cough, and shifted upwards again, as though she was trying to keep herself awake. Sonic frowned. She had probably been trying to keep herself awake all day just so she could speak to them again. Nevertheless, she answered.

"I lost…" she paused "…pretty much all of my psychokinesis. Can't levitate or anything. Think the most I can lift is a medium sized rock,"

She didn't look overly bothered about this, and Sonic and Sally had expected her to be disappointed. When Sally brought this up, Kate laughed and raised her brow.

"Disappointed? What for? I…er…I think I had a bit too much, Sonic, it's good to lose some, I guess,"

She gave Sonic a look, and he understood what she was implying. Sally became sceptical, but didn't say anything.

Kate shifted again, and stifled a yawn, slumping down further into the bed as she succumbed to her drowsiness. As she reluctantly began to nod off, Sonic motioned to Sally, knowing they'd have to wait until Kate was better rested to visit her again. They stood quietly.

"We'll let you get some rest, okay?" Sally told Kate.

The wolf stirred again at their movement, and her eyelids lazily flickered open again, and she peered past Sonic at the door.

"H-hey Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog turned around.

"Yeah?"

Kate hesitated.

"Erm…if you…er…see Silver…" she paused, noticing Sonic's odd expression "…where is he?"

Sonic smiled.

"He's gone to Angel Island for a while. We'll explain tomorrow, don't worry. Just get some rest,"

Satisfied, Kate lay down again, and pulled the cover up to her shoulders. Sally went on ahead of Sonic, but the hedgehog stayed behind for a moment. After six months of being one of Eggman's slaves, and two months in a coma, it was strange seeing her (supposedly) perfectly well, and back to her own self so quickly.

"Hey, Kate?"

Kate's reply was slightly slurred and and sleepy, and she didn't open her eyes.

"Mmm hmm?"

"It's good to see you again," Sonic replied quietly.

Kate opened one eye, smiling softly.

"It's good to be back, Sonic,"

 **So...I forgot I was writing the chapter for a week or two...and lost the notes I made on it...**

 **So yeah...bit of a mess (sorry)**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed nevertheless! Kate's back to her old self! (or is she? ooooooh...is anyone reading this...?)**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	9. Secrets of a Demigod

**Woop woop! Nearly time for Captain Marvel!**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, everything else is owned by Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

He had absolutely no boundaries. No doubt about it. There was no line he wasn't willing to cross in order to prove himself to be above the Freedom Fighters.

But what did he get from it? It was doubtful that he was simply spreading rumours just to prove himself better than everyone else. It wasn't general rumours from Mobotropolis and its citizens, it was focused purely on the Freedom Fighters. Why was he targeting them specifically? What was to gain?

This was more than simple dislike, this was direct, like he was purposely trying to sabotage the citizens' trust in the Freedom Fighters. But why? They were missing something. Something that was staring them right in the face…but what was it?

These were some of the many thoughts that passed through Sonic's mind as he sceptically watched the molerat. Caleb was sat outside Uncle Chuck's Diner, surrounded by several awed citizens, once again retelling some thrilling (but probably fake) experience of his life.

Although still acting like he was superior, Caleb was obviously miffed that he did not get his way with Kate, and Sonic had not been able to resist smiling smugly at the molerat whenever they passed each other in the city for the past few days.

Right now, Sonic was subtlety observing Caleb, as he couldn't fight the nagging feeling that he was up to something. That day, however, it appeared that Caleb was being his usual bragging self. Annoying, yes, but not suspicious.

Letting out a huff of disappointment, Sonic turned away, making sure he remained in the shadow of the building he was stood in front of. The last thing he needed Caleb to do was to report him snooping.

Once he was out of sight of the diner, he relaxed, and casually began strolling to the city gates to join the others at Headquarters.

He greeted a few people as they passed. A few of them smiled at him, but a few pulled him an odd look, and the only way Sonic could describe it was judgemental. Obviously he hadn't remained unscathed from Caleb's rumours like he originally thought. He ignored these people, despite wanting to confront them. The last thing he needed to do was make the situation worse.

Sonic stopped as he noticed something. Amidst the heads of the small crowd that was milling about the centre of city, he spotted five familiar white quills moving away from him. His mood perking up in curiosity, Sonic made his way towards the quills.

"Yo! Silver!" he called, gaining the attention of the white hedgehog "when did you get back, dude?"

Silver turned around at Sonic's voice, and smiled in greeting.

"Hey, Sonic! I got back late last night,"

Sonic nodded as the two began to make their way to the city gates. He didn't even realise that Silver had not said a word about Kate, and began talking to him casually.

"I thought Julie-Su wanted you to stay there longer?" he asked. Silver chuckled weirdly.

"Yeah, well, the Chaotix got back early, so I left. I wanted to stay longer, because, you know…Kate…" he scowled and changed the subject "Jules was right though…I don't remember Knuckles being that annoying…"

The mention of the wolf's name reminded Sonic of Kate's request to him.

"Oh! Shoot! I nearly forgot…" he blurted out suddenly, making Silver jump "she wanted to see you,"

Silver's raised his brow in confusion.

"Who did?"

Sonic gestured in the general direction of the hospital.

"Kate did. She looked really disappointed when I told her you were at Angel Island,"

His words made Silver give an odd, awkward smile, and he faced Sonic properly as the two stopped walking. Had Sonic done the same thing he had done two months ago? Made up a version of Kate to talk to? To Silver, this certainly came across as odd, as he was pretty sure that Sonic didn't have the same feelings he did towards Kate.

"Uh…Sonic…" he said quietly "you…you know Kate's in a coma, right? She can't speak,"

Sonic pulled his face at the slightly condescending tone that Silver was using.

"No, she's…" he trailed off, noticing Silver's genuine confused and slightly worried look. He thought for a moment, before he clocked on.

"No…dude…she woke up a few days ago,"

Sure enough, Silver's mouth dropped open and stared at Sonic wide-eyed, like he had just been given an electric shock. Sonic frowned.

"No one told you?"

He got no answer, as the white hedgehog had already bolted off towards the hospital, leaving Sonic completely stunned.

Silver skidded to a halt as he burst through the doors of the hospital. Ignoring the stares of those in the nearby waiting area, he dashed up to the front desk, and spoke quickly to a very surprised receptionist.

"I need to see Kate the wolf!" he blurted out desperately, slightly out of breath.

The receptionist nodded, and began typing something in on her computer. Silver tapped his foot impatiently. He was considering going to find Kate himself, when the receptionist spoke.

"She's in the Recovery Ward. Room nine. Just down there," she gestured to a set of double doors to the right of the reception desk.

Silver nodded, and began to quickly walk away, being careful not to run.

"Okay…thank you!"

He reached the doors in seconds, and hastily went through them, trying to make as little noise as possible. Keeping an eye out for any connecting corridors that had a sign similar to "Recovery Ward", he scanned the walls carefully, making sure he didn't miss anything.

He was about to reach the doors to the Intensive Care Unit, when he stopped at another set of doors. Next to them, on the wall, was a small blue sign with white writing: "Recovery Ward B".

This had to be it. He went through. The rooms here had frosted glass panes next to their doors, which were all numbered.

Room nine. That's what she said. Silver began walking again. Room one, two, three. He checked them carefully as he went past. Six, seven, eight. He started to hear very familiar voices.

Finally, he stopped at closed door with a white nine stamped on it. Trying his best to stay calm, Silver gently knocked on the door.

The voices stopped. There was a moment of silence, before Silver heard Dr.Quack's voice from inside.

"Come in!"

Readying himself, Silver pushed down the handle and entered the room slowly.

Quack was stood just behind the bed, mid way through taking down some notes on a black clipboard. He was peering over the top of the clipboard, clearly not expecting Silver's visit. Silver, however wasn't paying attention to him.

Kate was sat up on the edge of her bed, eyes wide with elation, wearing a light blue t-shirt and jeans instead of her jacket. She said nothing and, in a sudden movement, pushed herself up off the bed and used her hands to thrust herself forwards towards Silver. However, she had obviously mis-calculated the strength of her legs as they gave way underneath her and she stumbled forwards.

Instantly, Silver leapt forwards to catch her and hook his arms under her shoulders. He hoisted her up and embraced her tightly. Kate moved her hands from his shoulders to his back and returned the embrace, partly gripping onto him for support. She let out a noise that sounded like a combination of a laugh and a sob into Silver's shoulder.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you…" Silver said quietly, his voice slightly muffled.

Kate didn't respond. She instead pulled away, and Silver loosened his grip on her slightly. She gave him a smile, looking at him with watery eyes. They stood there for a short moment before Kate's legs once again wobbled and gave way, and Silver gently took her back over to the bed and took a seat on the chair beside her.

Dr.Quack chuckled.

"Your legs shouldn't take too long to recover, so you don't have to worry about that," he said light heartedly.

Kate shrugged it off, her legs obviously not of her concern right now. She smiled at Silver rather sheepishly as she slowly placed her legs on the bed and sat back. There was silence until Quack spoke again.

"I'll leave you two alone for a minute. I have to check on the other wards,"

He left rather briskly, and Kate watched him leave with an amused look in her eye.

"He keeps calling me the "wonder patient"," she said, cringing a little. Silver smirked.

"No wonder," he told her, still unable to take in the fact that she was okay after her whole ordeal "I just…I'm so glad you're okay,"

Kate didn't answer, but asked another question instead.

"How did you do it, anyway?" she asked curiously, confusing Silver with her quick change of subject. This confusion was short lived, however, as he panicked slightly.

"Oh…erm…Sonic told me to er...say something meaningful to you to get you back," he explained awkwardly.

Kate widened her eyes, not in confusion, but worry. Before Silver could say anything, Kate replied.

"Really? What else did he tell you?"

Her quick and slightly desperate tone was odd, but Silver answered her normally nevertheless.

"Nothing. Just that,"

Kate's face immediately relaxed in relief. The white hedgehog ignored it, however, as the last thing she needed right now was to be pelted with questions. Anyway, he was too busy thinking of a cover story for what he said to her, worried about her reaction if he told her the truth.

Luckily for him, Kate didn't seem that bothered at the moment. After a minute of quiet, Kate placed her head in her right hand.

"I'm…so sorry…"

This took Silver by surprise. Sorry? Sorry for what?

"What do you mean?"

Kate didn't look up.

"I…I didn't mean for this to happen," she groaned "I got close, I really did, then it-"

She stopped talking and inhaled sharply, the hand on her head clenching into a fist. Unsure of what to do, Silver leant forward slightly, and stammered before he spoke.

"K-Kate…it…it's not…" he let out a huff "it doesn't matter about that…you did it, and you're back,"

Kate still didn't look up, and remained silent, taking long, slow, slightly shaky breaths. Silver desperately tried to think of a different topic, but what was there to talk about? She had missed eight months!

Silver leant forward on the bed, his right hand propping up his head, his left hand resting on the sheets. Kate's right hand was close to his, and he stared at it blankly. Maybe she just needed to be reassured. Know that someone was there for her.

So, slowly, he moved his hand forward slightly, so it lightly rested atop of hers. This caught her attention, and Kate looked up. Their eyes met, and Silver gave her a small, reassuring smile. Her expression didn't change, but Silver could tell from the look in her eyes that she was trying to figure out what his purpose was.

Half a minute of this passed, before Kate sharply cleared her throat and removed her hand from underneath Silver's and fiddled with her ear, rather embarrassed.

Silver too removed his hand from its place on the sheets and sat back. There was more awkward silence, before Kate spoke.

"So…what have I missed?"

 ***That night, the Hedgehog Residence***

It was pretty late. Though, in Sonic"s standards, this was relatively early for him to call it a day. He approached his home quietly, noticing the lights were off. His parents were probably asleep, so he didn't expect a greeting from them, or anyone, for that matter.

Although, to his surprise, he found a dark shadow stood to the left of the path to the door, leaning against the wall. Sonic froze before taking a step back. Was that stupid molerat snooping in on him? Whoever it was, they were creeping him out.

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously, squinting his eyes to try and see the shadow better. The figure stepped away from the wall, and Sonic sighed in relief at the familiar silhouette.

"Silver…dude…don't creep me out like that," he huffed. Silver ignored him as he stepped out into the dim light.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" he said suddenly, taking Sonic by surprise.

"What?" Sonic replied, genuinely confused.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Silver repeated "about Kate?"

Sonic"s expression carefully went blank. Ah. That was a problem…

"I dunno what you mean," he said quickly.

Silver gave a short bitter chuckle in amusement and stepped forward. Sonic answered too quick for his liking, and his expression was too blank for Silver to believe him.

"Don't act stupid. Kate was a robot for _six months_ , and was in a coma for two," he said, rather snappy "she's recovering way too quick! Quicker than anyone else would, and you know that,"

The blue hedgehog had absolutely nothing to say, and stood there silently. Silver raised his brow.

"You really thought I wouldn't notice?" he said, before adding "back before the Death Egg was destroyed, you said you knew something about her that I didn't. What was it?"

Sonic didn't reply. He could tell him. Honestly, he had no idea why Kate was so intent on keeping her heritage a secret. But, he had promised not to tell anyone, and he was determined to stick by that promise, no matter what he thought about it.

"Can't tell," he said simply "won't tell,"

Silver rolled his eyes, clearly growing frustrated. Sonic noticed that he wasn't angry out of curiosity, but worry. Why was he so concerned about this?

"Why does this matter to you so much?"

This caught the silver hedgehog out, and he stumbled over his words for a second.

"I just…I'm worried about her," he said "I'm…I'm her friend…" he trailed off "…I just want her to trust me,"

Sonic did his best to hide a knowing smirk. Guess the white hedgehog really meant what he said in that clearing.

"Y'know, dude, I think she trusts you more than anyone," Sonic said with a hint of finality, walking up the path to the front door "I think there's another reason she's not telling you,"

Silver frowned as he watched Sonic open the door.

"Then, what-?"

The cobalt hedgehog shrugged and laughed.

"No idea," he sighed "but, hey, maybe we'll both find out someday,"

He entered his home, giving a short wave to Silver.

"See ya tomorrow, bud,"

 **There ye go**

 **Now, quick question, is anyone actually reading this? I know it's not the best but I enjoy uploading stuff on this site, but I don't want to be working on this for no reason.**

 **So, if you are reading, a quick review or favourite or something would be greatly appreciated :)**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**

 **R and R!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	10. Afraid

**_Guess who's back_**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate (and Caleb too I guess but eh) the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***few days later***

"So…this guy is plotting something?"

"That's what Sonic and the others think. Apparently this rumour-spreading is getting out of hand,"

Shadow furrowed his brow in thought as he listened to Kate describing the situation of Caleb, as Shadow was unaware of what the guard was supposedly up to. He leant back on the wall, being sure to keep an eye on Kate.

The ivory wolf was making her way through two parallel horizontal bars in the middle of the room, gripping onto the bars tightly as she walked slowly, biting her lip in concentration. A nurse was silently watching Kate from the wall opposite Shadow, jotting down notes on a clipboard every now and again.

"Have you met him yet?" Shadow asked, being cautious not to mention Caleb's name in front of the nurse.

Kate shook her head.

"No, and I don't want to," she scowled as she reached the end of the two bars, and began to awkwardly turn around to head the other way.

Shadow snorted.

"I do. Guy sounds someone ought to cut him down to size,"

Laughing nervously, Kate stopped walking to look over her shoulder at Shadow.

"Yeah I er…don't recommend that. He's too high profile right now. It's not worth the risk,"

Kate continued the awkwardly shift down the bars, being sure to keep herself propped up. Deciding to end the conversation of Caleb, Shadow focused on Kate, who was still very wobbly on her legs but improving slowly.

"You know, I think you're getting the hand of walking," Shadow commented as Kate once again turned round to walk back towards him.

She huffed.

"Uh-huh. If only the whole world was covered in parallel bars for me to use," she muttered sarcastically, making Shadow smirk slightly.

The nurse looked up from her clipboard at her statement, smiling kindly.

"Well, he's not wrong. You have made an amazing improvement from yesterday," she said "if this keeps up, we might be able to discharge you for the night, so you can get used to everything again,"

Kate's mood immediately perked up, and she stopped walking in surprise at the nurse's words. Outwardly, she kept a straight face, and continued her walking exercise. Shadow, however, could tell that she was beyond excited at the prospect of leaving the hospital, even if it was only for a day, as she began moving with more vigour.

It was odd. She seemed fine. Not just physically, but emotionally. It was like she had returned from a week away or something. Maybe, Shadow thought, she was blotting it out. Pretending it didn't happen. No…more like trying to blot it out, judging by the look in her eye. Either way, it was obvious she was doing a good job of it.

Another hour or so passed, with Kate walking and taking frequent breaks and Shadow rarely leaving the room they were in. It was after this hour that the nurse contacted Dr.Quack so they could both assess Kate's progress. An agreement was made that Kate could leave the hospital, but return for a check up every day or two, and if she had any issues, return to them immediately. They also asked for Shadow to relay the message that Kate needed to be monitored and assisted where necessary, and that they should try to avoid bringing up any of the events of the past months.

After this, Dr.Quack returned to the rest of the hospital, and the nurse left to get a walking stick for Kate, something which Kate wasn't overly happy about, and Shadow found great amusement in.

Meanwhile, Shadow had aided Kate in reaching the two armchairs in the room, where she flumped down exasperatedly, happy to rest her legs for a minute. Shadow took a seat too. There was a minute of silence before Kate eyed Shadow worryingly.

"Shadow, about Caleb, don't try and start anything up with him,"

Shadow frowned.

"But we can't just let him carry on-"

Kate cut across him, speaking in a low, hurried voice in case the nurse returned.

"No…look…from what Sonic and the others have been telling me, he's clever, and is pretty much right hand man to Elias. It's too easy for him to accuse you, or any of us, of treason,"

After a moment of thought, Shadow nodded.

"Very well. I won't say anything," he said bitterly, and Kate laughed at the tone of voice he was using.

"Don't worry. I think we all want to give him a piece of our mind. I haven't even met the guy, and I already despise him," she sighed "unfortunately, according to Sally, until we get some solid evidence against him we'll have to hold our tongues,"

 ***soon, just outside the hospital***

Kate had just taken her first steps outside the hospital, and was clearly happy to be out of there. More than likely because she was worried about the doctors getting suspicious of her rapid recovery.

She stopped for a moment, getting a better grip on the walking stick clasped in her left hand. Shadow stood beside her patiently as she gazed around the part of the city they were in.

"I thought I'd never see this place again…"

Shadow didn't understand what she meant, until he remembered her goodbye video. She thought she would die, or at least remain as a robot and be destroyed. How did she not see that there was a way for the others to bring her back?

Choosing not to ask her now, shadow diverted her away from the topic.

"So. Where to first?"

Kate took a deep breath and stood up as straight as she could, keeping a slightly hunched position.

"Home. That's the closest place. I'll see the others tomorrow,"

Shadow nodded curtly, and Kate began to awkwardly plod away from the hospital. The dark hedgehog walked very slowly next to her, alert and ready in case she fell.

"You've recovered well," stated Shadow. Kate gave him a rather sheepish smile.

"Yeah…why do you think that is?" she said quietly, and Shadow caught a flash of orange in her blue eyes.

They continued to make their way through Mobotropolis in silence. Shadow was finding it hard to find something to talk about. Neither of them had mentioned to argument, so bringing that up probably wasn't a good idea, especially if Kate was willing to ignore it, or had indeed forgotten it.

He looked over at Kate. She didn't seem overly bothered about the silence between them, and seemed content with a quiet walk to her home. Sensing this, Shadow just decided to leave her be.

However, as soon as he looked away, Kate stopped for a second and lightly hit Shadow on the leg with her walking stick to get his attention. Shadow scowled.

"What was that for?" he grunted in annoyance. Smirking, Kate placed the stick on the ground again and continued to limp down the path.

"Because I know you're still thinking about that argument,"

Shadow opened his mouth to deny it, but he knew there was no way he could convince her.

"I didn't mean what I said," he said bluntly.

Kate didn't look at him, and directed her speech to the path.

"I…I don't blame you," she replied "losing a sibling is…hard. I was too harsh on you, probably because I was stressed about the Roboticizer,"

The dark one said nothing, but Kate continued speaking despite the lack of response.

"Anyway…I think the best thing for us is to forget it happened. After all that's happened, I don't think either of us should be worrying about it,"

She finally looked up at him and smiled, before returning her concentration to ground. Shadow nodded, still having completely nothing to say. Luckily for him, they were approaching the huge tree that held Kate's home, and the ivory wolf had begun to speed up her slowly, clumsy pace.

The pair of them stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and Kate's eyes moved up, following the spiralling staircase round the tree until her eyes fixated on her front door. Shadow followed her gaze, and raised his brow.

Kate took a deep breath, and let out a slightly exaggerated sigh.

"You know, I think Sonic knew something like this was going to happen," she said lightheartedly, looking at the base of the stairs in front of her.

Shadow looked down at her.

"Oh really? Why do you think that?"

"Of all the houses he could have brought me to, he gave me the one at the top of a huge tree," she replied jokingly.

Smirking, Shadow gestured at the top of the tree.

"I could teleport you up there," he suggested. To his surprise, Kate grimaced and shrugged.

"Meh, I'll have to deal with stairs at some point. Might as well start now,"

Impressed by her determinism, Shadow held his hand out to give her the lead. After a quick nod, Kate started forwards, placing the walking stick carefully on the first step.

She was about to be helped up the first step by Shadow, before the hushed voices behind them stopped them.

A small crowd had gathered behind them whilst they had been talking, and all of them were whispering to one another, casting furtive glances at Kate.

Many of the Mobians the siblings had passed on their walk had whispered about Kate, but they had less sour looks than this crowd. Many had greeted Kate, and thanked her.

But these…these looked afraid, and accusational of the wolf. A couple of them shot dirty looks at Kate before they left, and some of them looked scared and worried.

Shadow frowned. Kate said that Caleb was rumour spreading…maybe these were the people that had bought into his lies, but what had he been telling them about Kate?

He was snapped from his thoughts as he felt a pressure on his wrist. Kate was gripping his arm, staring at him with worry in her eyes. He quickly glanced at the small crowd again before he placed an arm around her shoulders and began to turn her around.

"Just ignore them. Come on,"

She nodded, and let go of Shadow's wrist. Just before the pair of them had chance to turn away, Kate caught eye of a mother with her small child. She locked eyes with Kate once before throwing a protective arm around her child, and leading them away in a hurry.

This did it for Kate, and her ears drooped as low as they could, and her eyes widened in fear and realisation. Shadow looked behind him to see the mother leading her child away quickly, and saw Kate's horrified expression. He scowled at the crowd before lowering his voice to speak to Kate.

"You can deal with the stairs another time…" he muttered, forcefully turning her away from the crowd and making them both disappear in a flash.

Less than a second later, they both appeared in Kate's home. Almost immediately, Kate writhed out from Shadow's arm and staggered off to the far side of the room, gripping on to the slightly dusty chairs as she went.

After making sure she was okay, Shadow opened the door and stepped out onto the small balcony. Placing both his hands on the wooden railing, he looked down to his right. Most of the small crowd had dispersed now. Only a couple of them remained, glaring up at him, as if they expected him and Kate to lash out at them.

Rolling his eyes, he swivelled around and entered the house again, shutting the door firmly behind them. What in Chaos was their problem?

The clatter of Kate's walking stick hitting the floor brought him back to reality. His eyes moved in the direction of the sound.

The stick lay discarded on the floor. Next to it, leaning against the wall for support, breathing heavily, was Kate. She had her hand pressed against her head, and was letting out a noise between a grunt and a groan, like she was in pain.

Shadow immediately rushed over. Her eyes were clenched shut.

"K-Kate?" he stammered, unsure of what was going on "are you alright?"

In response, the hand that was covering Kate's face weakly pushed tried to push Shadow away. The black hedgehog complied, but still remained close to her.

"Kate? What's wrong?"

He then jolted as she growled, and he stepped back properly this time. Both of her fists clenched and her eyes snapped open, but that wasn't what Shadow was focusing on.

She had let out a snarl, and some kind of shockwave shot through her. Her white fur suddenly changed into a very dark grey, and the cyan patch on her head and tails became a darker shade of blue.

This lasted for about two seconds, before her fur returned to her original colour and her eyes switched back to blue. She stood up straight, before she swayed and fell into Shadow. The dark hedgehog still had no idea what was happening, but helped her into a chair and retrieved the walking stick off of the floor.

Placing the stick on the table, Shadow took a seat next to Kate, who was trembling like crazy. Awkwardly, Shadow placed a hand on her shoulder. They sat in silence for a few minutes whilst both of them calmed down a little.

Kate sat back, and Shadow removed his hand.

"What was that?"

Kate once again closed her eyes, and rubbed her head exhaustedly.

"I…the b-barrier…it's wearing down too quick…" her voice shook, like she was holding back tears "I don't…it can't…that stupid molerat or whatever the hell he is is just making it worse…"

Her hand dropped from her head and she opened her eyes, and a single tear dropped from her muzzle. Shadow realised what she was talking about, and frowned, not knowing what to say.

Kate carried on, talking more to herself than Shadow.

"It's getting closer…I know it is…I can't let it…" she sniffed, and wiped her eyes "…why were they so afraid of me?"

"I don't…I don't know…" Shadow murmured "we don't know what's being spread around,"

Kate didn't respond, but instead took deep breaths, trying to stop herself from completely breaking down on the spot.

"It's just…I can't let that barrier break, Shadow!" she exclaimed, the pitch of her voice heightening slightly "and…I know it's not long before it happens…"

She trailed off as her voice gave up, and she quietly began to run her finger over the grooves of the wooden table in front of her absent-mindedly. Shadow watched her carefully, unable to ignore the genuine fear in her eye.

"Why are you so afraid of it?"

Kate didn't look up when she spoke.

"When…when it happens, and it will, I'll…" she hesitated "…I'll lose it for a while…and I don't what to hurt any of you...I don't want you to be afraid of me…"

"I wouldn't be afraid of you. I doubt any of us would," Shadow interrupted suddenly.

Kate raised her brow and looked up at him. She gave a bitter chuckle and crossed her arms.

"You wouldn't?" she smirked knowingly, and jerked her thumb at the wall "what you saw there was just a snippet, no where near the real thing. So, tell me this, Ultimate Lifeform; if you were to see a raging half celestial who doesn't know friends from enemies, you wouldn't feel even slightly afraid?"

Shadow didn't answer, and Kate leant forward and locked eyes with the dark hedgehog.

"Let's see if you can look me in the eye and say that,"

They stared it out for a few seconds, before Shadow reluctantly gave in. He blinked once before turning his head away, and Kate sat back, almost victorious. Regardless of his defeat, Shadow wasn't finished.

"Maybe I would be afraid at that time," he admitted "but after that I wouldn't,"

Kate appeared to be surprised by this, and smiled slightly.

"I…I appreciate that...truly I do..." she sighed, and snorted, chancing the topic abruptly "this days going great…don't tell the others about this…with this Caleb thing…they don't need to worry about this,"

Shadow nodded, but remained silent. He looked at Kate. She looked so worn out, so tired and fed up. This wasn't fair on her, none of it was, especially after what she did for all of them eight months ago.

A high pitched beeping suddenly rang through the quiet room, making them both jump in their seats. The beeping was coming from Shadow's wrist communicator. With an irritated grunt, he switched it off, and stood up.

"I have to go," he said simply, Kate nodded, but suddenly jolted like she remembered something.

"Oh…Shadow…before you go…"

Shadow turned.

"Yes?"

The ivory wolf at the table smiled.

"Thank you,"

"For what?" Shadow asked, his brow furrowed.

Kate gestured at him, and gave him a weary and gentle smile.

"For being here,"

 **Well Kate's starting to lose it now :P**

 **I really hope I'm not boring y'all with this. It's (sort of) near the end so things should get more interesting from here ;)**

 **Also thanks for the review, Void, I appreciate it**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	11. Controlling the King

**Boop**

 **DiScLaImEr: I only own Kate (and Caleb, not that it matters...), the rest belong to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :P**

 ***That night***

Sally pulled her coat tighter around herself as the chill of the night began to seep in. Her breath rose up in mists before her, and she picked up her pace, desperately wanting to get out of the cold.

It was late, and Sally had been at Headquarters for hours. She and Nicole had been working nearly all afternoon trying to get readings for the crystal, a chunk of which was clasped tightly in her hand. As she walked, she observed it again. She recognised it. It on the very tip of her tongue, but she couldn't put a name to it.

She placed the crystal back in her pocket, and sighed, watching the white cloud it formed swirl up into the air.

As her eyes followed the little swirl of mist until it disappeared from view, her eyes fell on the large tree that housed Kate. She stopped, and smiled slightly as she saw light shining through the windows. Sally stood still for a few seconds, before the bitter cold snapped her back to reality, and she set off on her way again.

No one was out. No one should have been out, but as Sally approached a large path just past the giant tree, she noticed a familiar silhouette on the opposite side of the path. As soon as she realised who it was, she ducked behind a nearby bush

She watched the shadow carefully, and squinted her eyes as the figure stepped into the light of a street lamp. She was right. It was Caleb. From what Sally could see, the molerat was looking around carefully, as if to make sure he wasn't being followed. Sally's curiosity instantly perked up.

"What are you up to, Caleb…" she muttered to herself.

She ducked out of sight as Caleb faced her direction. As soon as he turned away, Sally poked her head over the bush again, just in time to see him heading off into a dark alley.

She carefully edged out from behind the bush. As quiet as she could, Sally then dashed across to the other side of the path, making sure to stay away from the light of the street lamp. She arrived there just as Caleb turned a corner in the alley, and Sally followed him.

It was virtually pitch black due to the building on either side, and it took some time for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She edged forwards, holding out her arms to feel if anything was in front of her.

She stopped moving, knowing walking in this darkness won't help her. She waited for half a minute whilst her eyes adjusted, by which time she began to hear voices nearby.

She continued to creep forwards, and managed to reach the turn of the alley without making too much noise. She carefully poked her head around the corner.

From what Sally could see, the alley took a right turn at the end of it. Moonlight seemed to be pouring in from some kind of gap in the wall. She continued, moving even slower as the voices got louder.

She ran her hand over the wall to the right of her, and she realised. This was the city wall. The hole that was letting in moonlight was a hole in the city walls, in the nanites…but how had Nicole not realised this was here?

The answer to that question came a second later, as her foot had hit something hard. She gasped, but quickly clamped her hand around her mouth. Sally froze on the spot for second, but the voices didn't seem to hear her. She slowly crouched down to see what she had kicked.

It was the crystal, the exact same as the chunk in her pocket. She looked up towards the gap in the wall, and decided to investigate further. She hit more chunks of crystal, but managed to slowly maneuver around these ones.

Finally she reached the hole in the wall. The voices were easily distinguishable now. There were two speakers, one of which was Caleb, the other…one which Sally recognised, and made her shiver, but she couldn't remember who it was.

She stood just on the edge of the gap, her back against the jagged crystal rim of the gap that used to be Nicole's nanites. She covered her mouth with her hand to make sure she didn't make too much noise, and listened.

The unknown voice spoke, or rather hissed, at Caleb.

"How much progress have you made with Elias?"

Sally heard footsteps as Caleb supposedly began to pace.

"Not as far as I hoped to get by the end of this week, sir,"

Sally cringed at Caleb's usual cocky attitude, but that was nothing compared to the snarl/hiss that followed.

"What? Why?"

The footsteps stopped, and Caleb began to sound like he had lost his nerve.

"It's…it's not an easy task, sir," he answered, his voice quivering "p-plus...the Freedom Fighters are becoming more suspicious of me each d- _ARGH!_ "

The chipmunk jolted in surprise as Caleb was suddenly cut off by the other voice letting out an enraged snarl. There was then a sickening crunch, and the crystal lining the wall shook as Caleb was slammed against the wall, and then there was another, softer sound as he hit the ground.

"You _fool!_ You're letting your stupid ego ruin _everything!_ "

Caleb could only whimper in reply, and Sally was now truly terrified of the other voice.

"S-sir…" Caleb managed to get out after a moment "the...the only reason they suspect is me is because I tried to get the demigod destroyed for you,"

This caught Sally's attention. Demigod? Who did he mean? Sonic said Caleb had kept trying to Kate destroyed…his that who he meant?

Sally dismissed this theory almost immediately, and continued listening into the conversation.

Despite Caleb's attempts to impress the other speaker, they didn't seem pleased at all.

"And yet you also failed at that…you truly are a most disappointing apprentice,"

So…Caleb was working for someone else…but who?

The desperation in Caleb's voice was becoming more noticeable.

"Sir, please have patience," he said slightly more confident "I guarantee you, Elias will be completely under our control by the end of next week,"

The other voice gave an impatient huff.

"You better live up to that guarantee, Caleb," it said, still sounding frustrated "I'm almost at full power…if you don't get that fool of a king out of the way by then…"

Caleb cut across the other voice, sounding more sincere and more like his cocky self again.

"Trust me, sir, I will,"

The other voice snorted.

"Trust you? That's asking far too much, Caleb," it said in a mockingly sweet voice "if you don't do this by the time I am ready, I will kill him myself,"

This made Sally gasp once again. This time, however, it was too loud, and the two speakers stopped abruptly. Sally was suddenly paralysed with fear, before she came to her sense and desperately tried to scramble away (rather noisily) from the hole in the wall, but it was too late.

Her head whipped around as the moonlight was dimmed slightly from someone standing in the gap. It was Caleb, and his red eyes locked with Sally's blue ones, and he scowled.

"It's Sally!"

Sally took off a full page, sprinting away from the hole in the wall as fast as she could. As she veered round the corner, she heard the second voice order Caleb from outside.

"Kill her!"

At the voice's command, Caleb set off in hot pursuit of Sally, who was now close to the entrance of the alley. The squirrel let out a yell of surprise as a very sharp piece of crystal buried itself into the grass next to her, missing her by inches. She quickly looked round to see Caleb preparing another attack.

Tired but running on adrenaline, Sally continued to sprint away from the molerat, bursting back into the light of the main city. She heard another noise as another sharp piece of crystal hit the ground behind her.

Caleb didn't stop his pursuit despite no longer being under the cover of darkness. Lucky for Sally, the two attacks that the molerat had launched had slowed him down significantly, and Sally was able to dodge into a shadowy siding near the huge tree she had passed previously.

She crouched down, exhausted, and began to catch her breath. She watched in anticipation as Caleb stopped just past the siding, looked around, confused, before carrying on, now walking instead of running.

Sally's heart was still racing, and her breathing still heavy. Her befuddled mind desperately tried to think of a place where she could go, as retuning to Castle Acorn wasn't a good idea, and Sonic's house was too far away.

She knew Caleb would back track soon, and he would probably notice the siding and check it out. The thought renewed her panic, and she looked around rapidly.

Her gaze landed on Kate's house, where one of the lights was still on. Yes, that was a good place to go. Quite a few buildings still had at least one of the lights on, so this wouldn't be suspicious to Caleb.

She stepped out of the siding, her head darting from side to side. No sign of Caleb. She dashed across to the base of the stairs. She scanned around again. Still no sign of him. Quickly and as quietly as she could, Sally began to ascend the stairs, running up them two at a time.

By the time she had reached the top, her legs were aching and she was once again out of breath. Checking for Caleb on last time, Sally furiously knocked on Kate's door, trying to keep the noise down.

She stopped knocking as the door opened, and was greeted with a very confused white and cyan wolf.

"Sal-woah!"

As soon as the door was opened wide enough, Sally darted through into Kate's living room, unintentionally barging past Kate.

"Sally…what are you-?"

Sally didn't listen and instead began to rapidly gesture at the door, still completely out of breath.

"Sh-sh-shut the door!" she hissed "quick!"

Completely baffled, Kate did so, and Sally almost immediately relaxed. She leant on the wall, finally stopping to catch her breath. Kate limped over, and leant on the table.

"Sally…what in the name of Chaos are you doing?" she snapped.

Now the adrenaline had begun to die down, Sally felt weak, sleepy and breathless. Her arm loosely lifted to point at the door.

"I-I-it...it was…it was…" she breathed, finding it hard to get her breath back.

Kate, noticing that Sally was obviously still on panic mode, lowered her tone and spoke more calmly.

"Sally…Sally…calm down…breathe…what happened?" she said, taking a seat as her legs began to give way underneath her.

Sally managed to compose herself slightly before she spoke again.

"It…it was Caleb," she began "I followed him…he was talking to someone about controlling Elias, about killing him…but they heard me, and I ran, and that's how I ended up here,"

Kate raised her brow.

"Who was he talking to?"

Her energy completley spent, Sally fell into a chair opposite Kate, and placed her head in her hands.

"I…I don't know…but they were familiar…and there was more of that crystal. Whoever it was is behind _all_ of this, Kate,"

Biting her lip, Kate leant forward.

"You sure you can't remember who it is?"

Sally removed her hands from her head and sat back, giving a small shake of her head. Kate sighed.

"If he's planning to kill Elias…why come here? Why not go back to the castle? If he's danger shouldn't you warn him?"

The details were becoming increasingly fuzzy the more Sally tried to recall them. After remaining silent for a moment to think, she shook her head again.

"He's not in danger right now," she explained "if Caleb hasn't "controlled" him by the end of next week…then Elias will…"

The sentence made her tear up, and her voice caught in her throat. Kate stood up, and slowly hobbled over to sit down next to Sally. She placed a hand on Sally's shoulder, and patted it gently to comfort her.

"I just wish we could have a few months where nothing happens…" Sally sighed, resting her elbows on the table

They sat in silence for a while, before Kate checked the time and removed her hand from Sally's shoulder.

"Sally…go get some sleep. You can tell Elias first thing tomorrow, okay? I'll stay here in case Caleb decides to rock up to the door,"

Sally sniffed and nodded, sitting up properly again. She stood slowly, pushing the chair towards the table as she stood. She made a move to leave the living room, before she looked at Kate and frowned.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep?"

Kate widened her eyes, like she was frightened of the idea, before clearing her throat and shaking her head vigorously.

"No…no...I'm fine…"

"You sure?"

"Yeah...yeah...er…just, just get some sleep, alright?"

Sally, sensing Kate's obvious reluctance, nodded, and turned around towards the bedroom to finally get some rest.

 ***The next morning, Castle Acorn***

"I don't get why you had to drag me along…"

"I told you. They want you out of the way as well,"

Kate rolled her eyes as she and Sally waited for Elias in the entrance hall of Castle Acorn. Kate was in an incredibly grumpy mood, as Sally had managed to persuade her to take the long walk to the castle. On top of that, Sally had also revealed what Caleb had said about Kate, putting the wolf in an even more irritable mood.

Their hushed whispering stopped as Elias approached them, smiling at them brightly, though curious. His smile faded as he noticed their serious expression.

"What's the matter with you two?"

After a nudge from Kate, Sally spoke, her voice low.

"Elias…we think Caleb is conspiring against you,"

Elias apparently found this statement amusing.

"He's doing what?" he chuckled. Sally felt a pang of annoyance but continued nevertheless.

"I heard him speaking with someone last night. They were plotting to kill you. Apparently they have you under their control," she explained calmly.

A confused frown crossed Elias' face, and he looked at Kate.

"Did you hear this as well?"

Kate shook her head.

"I didn't, your majesty, but Sally did come into my house late last night pretty scared, saying that Caleb had tried to kill her," she shifted uncomfortably "apparently, my life is also in danger,"

Elias's expression had now turned serious.

"Where did you hear this conversation?"

 ***10 minutes later***

Sally and Elias were stood next to the bush that Sally had watched Caleb from the previous night. Kate was still a small distance behind them, finding it difficult to keep up with her clumsy pace.

The female chipmunk pointed towards the street lamp where Caleb had been standing.

"I was behind this bush, and I saw him look around before he went into an alley over there," she moved her hand just left of the street lamp "there was a hole in the city walls, made of that crystal…come on, I'll show you,"

Elias nodded and began to follow Sally across the wide pathway. Kate, who had only just reached the bush, sighed heavily and began to slowly hobble off after the two siblings once again.

Sally jogged ahead of Elias to make sure the owner of the other voice wasn't lingering in the alley. She carefully looked at the buildings trying to recognise where abouts the alley was.

When she was certain she had reached its location, she stopped, triumphant, only to see that the entrance to the alley was gone, replaced by a large, beige stone wall that appeared the part of the building to the right of it.

In disbelief, Sally approached the wall and placed her palm on it. It was completely solid. She ran her hand over it. It even had small bumps and dints where it had been weathered away. It looked as if it had been there for a long time, not brand new.

Elias caught up with Sally. His brow was raised and he had a smirk on his face.

"Sally...that's a wall,"

Sally's hand dropped down to her side.

"It…it was right here!"

"Sally…maybe you were just over tired…seeing things…" Elias knocked the wall twice with his left hand "…this is solid stone,"

By this time, Kate had caught up, and was exhausted. She leant on the walking stick for support as she caught her breath, and squinted at the wall.

"Is this where you heard them?"

Sally nodded, but Elias subtlety shook his head feverishly at Kate. The wolf moved over to the wall and poked it suspiciously with the walking stick, causing some of he beige paint to fall off.

"Looks pretty real…" she muttered, despite obviously not being convinced by it.

Hearing this, Elias turned round to face his sister, and Sally began to sound more panicked.

"Elias…I know what I heard…"

"Sally," interjected Elias "if it puts your mind at ease, I'll have a word with Caleb and tell General Prower to keep a close eye on him. But…" he sighed deeply, tried to carry on, before shaking his head and not saying anything.

He walked away without another word, ignoring Sally's attempts to call him back. Kate, who had now finished poking the wall, stood beside Sally, and the chipmunk stopper trying to call her brother back. She looked at Kate.

"You believe me, don't you?"

Kate nodded, and ran her free hand through the fur on her forehead.

"Yes, I do. But he doesn't," she pointed after Elias "if Caleb _is_ using some kind of mind control on him, we have to hope that we're not too late to snap him out of it,"

 **BoOp**

 **Wow I usually have something to say here...this is new...**

 **As always, reviews are greatly appreciated** **:D**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	12. Wish It Would All Go Away

**Disclaimer: I only own Kate, and Caleb (not that it matters), the others belong to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***The next day***

"This is an awful idea, guys,"

"Just concentrate, you'll get the hang of it,"

Kate wobbled slightly as she reluctantly handed her walking stick to Sonic, who was stood at her side. Despite her rapid recovery, her legs were still very unsteady, but improving. She had somehow been persuaded by the others to attempt to walk a short distance without any aid, and was now regretting her decision.

The group of friends were taking a time out at the small tree by the Lake of Rings. Sonic and Silver were helping Kate out, Tails was lying down on one of the larger branches of the tree and Sally, Antoine and Bunnie were sat round the base of the trunk.

Of course, Sally had retold her encounter with Caleb to the others. So now, even if they didn't show it, they were all anxiously waiting for something from Elias. No matter how much they tried, however, they couldn't think of a name for Caleb's "master", who had been the conversation topic for the last five or ten minutes.

Meanwhile, Kate, listening to Silver's advice to concentrate more, had scrunched up her muzzle, focusing on the white hedgehog a short distance from her. She held her arms out to steady herself and took one shaky step forwards.

"You know," Antoine began out of no where "it could be someone from before ze Genesis Wave,"

Sitting up slightly from his position on the branch, Tails nodded in agreement.

"That could account for why we're having trouble remembering them,"

"I know the name…it's right there…" Sonic said, tapping his forehead in frustration.

Silver looked up from Kate for a second to look at Sonic and the others.

"Do you think whoever is doing this is making it harder for us to remember them? Give themselves more time?"

He suddenly jerked forwards as Kate swayed, but stepped back as she steadied herself.

"Let's just hope Elias as managed to fight back against Caleb," she said, her eyed fixated on the ground "we can't do anything against Caleb if he doesn't," she swayed again, but managed to catch herself " _GAH!_ Jeez…why do I listen to you guys…"

Happy for an excuse to stop talking about that stupid molerat, Sonic grinned at Kate.

"You're doing great, just keep going!"

Kate rolled her eyes, but continued hobbling towards Silver nevertheless, mimicking Sonic's words under her breath.

She was close to Silver now, but was beginning to lose her balance more and more. She stopped, and looked round at Sonic.

"Dude…can I just have the stick back…"

The blue hedgehog laughed, shook his head and waved the walking stick teasingly. He walked past Kate, and the wolf made a grab for it, but Sonic quickly pulled it out of her reach. He smugly stood beside Silver.

"You want this? Come over here and get it,"

She scowled at him, and there was laughter from the others.

"Ain't no way ya gettin' that stick back 'cept by walkin', Kate," Bunnie chuckled.

Sighing heavily, Kate reluctantly began to shuffle forwards again, keeping her focus on the slightly uneven grass below her. She took a few more wobbly steps, before she finally reached the white hedgehog. She stumbled, and hung on to Silver for support. There were one or two small cheers from those sat around the tree, and Kate held up her free hand, victorious.

Sonic, impressed, held the walking stick out to Kate, who grabbed it off him and slowly lowered herself down to the ground to sit down on the grass.

"Yeah…" she grunted, shifting to a more comfortable position "not doing that again in a hurry,"

Snorting, Sonic went over to those around the tree, whilst Silver sat down next to Kate. Once he was sat down, he leant back, using his arms to prop himself up. He looked over at Kate, who was staring out across the surface of the lake with a serene look. He too gazed at the lake, and the two of them sat in silence for a minute.

"That video you left us…" he began "you didn't mention a way to bring you back,"

Not tearing her sight away from the lake, Kate replied and shrugged after a moment of hesitation.

"I…honestly didn't know there was one," she said, looking away from the lake to smile at him before once again fixating on the water.

Accepting her answer despite his scepticism, Silver remained quiet whilst Kate asked a question of her own.

"What did you say?"

Silver's breath caught in his throat, and he coughed. He panicked as he tried to think of a response. This wasn't really the right place, or time, to tell Kate what he said.

"I…er…said something about you meeting Sonic," he lied "I don't remember exactly what I said,"

The wolf looked at him quizzically. She wore a slight smirk on her face and gave him one of those "yeah you're lying" looks. She scanned him for a moment more before shrugging and directing her gaze to the lake once again.

"Hmph. Didn't know I was still…" she struggled to find the right word, and gave up, and the pair of them reverted back to silence.

Peaceful moments like this were hard to come by in the current climate, because despite no one actually knowing what was going on, tensions seemed to be running at their highest. Moments like this were savoured, and were snagged at every opportunity possible.

Unfortunately, due to some unspoken law forbidding the group to relax, these moments were short lived.

And of course, this moment was no exception.

A sudden movement from the base of the tree is what caught the attention of Kate and Silver. The looked over, curious, to see Sally had abruptly leapt up from her previous position, her focus now on something behind them. The others had not stood, but their peaceful expressions were now replaced with a look of rapt attention.

Silver was the first of the two of them to see what had triggered this, and he jerked his head at Kate.

"Here comes trouble…" he muttered.

Kate awkwardly swivelled around on the grass, and her gaze fell upon none other than Elias advancing towards them. She made a move to stand, gripping the walking stick tightly and digging it into the ground. With help from Silver, she managed to push herself up. The two of them took two steps over to Sonic and the others to quietly observe what was going on.

Sally and Elias met each other a short distance away from the tree. Elias had an odd look. Outwardly, he looked incredibly irritated, but there was a blankness in his eyes that was difficult to ignore.

They began to converse, hushed, but loud enough for the rest of the group to hear.

"Did you speak to him?"

Elias' voice was even more quiet than that of Sally's, and the irritability present in his tone matching that of his expression.

"No…no I haven't, Sally,"

Although Sally's reaction wasn't visible, the rest of the group were sure that the bottom of her jaw had almost hit the ground. Kate in particular, who had seen first hand the distress Sally had been in, knew that this was no where near the answer that the chipmunk had been expecting.

"But...you said…" she trailed off, trying to keep her temper from rising "…why?"

The King's expression contorted, as if he was becoming more impatient by the second.

"Because these theories…they're completely ridiculous, Sally!"

Obviously, Sally wasn't having any of this.

"You were considering them yesterday, Elias!" she snapped, her voice raising slightly "this isn't you saying this, this is-!"

"Sally, stop it!" he hissed, an unusual harshness in his tone "I don't want to hear anymore of this…"

He sternly tilted his head upwards so he was peering over Sally's shoulder at the rest of the group, eyeing Kate in particular

"…from any of you,"

With a rather dramatic flourish, he turned sharply on his heel and swiftly strides away from the gobsmacked Freedom Fighters.

There was sort of a dumb silence for a moment, where none of them knew what to say or do. Sally eventually went back towards the group, muttering darkly under her breath.

The others still didn't say anything. "What now?" was the question that kept drifting through their heads. With Elias further under Caleb's control, anything they did against the molerat would surely result in them being accused of treason. It was extreme, but they knew that Elias, in his current state, probably wouldn't hesitate.

If only they could know what they were up against…this whole thing would be made a lot easier.

Tails was the first to speak. He had sat back on the branch, his back resting against the trunk.

"What do we do now?"

Sonic, despite evidently being worried about the state of the King, kept up his confident manner.

"We find out exactly what he's doing, and put a stop to it,"

A snarky chuckle arose from the chipmunk, who was facing the lake, perhaps trying to calm herself down by watching the hypnotic ripples in the water. She turned around, clearly not on the same level of optimism as Sonic.

"How? That pathway is sealed off, Elias thinks we're all insane, and Caleb has nearly everyone in Mobotropolis buying into his rubbish…there isn't much we can do, Sonic,"

Having no argument, Sonic shook his head and had begun to tap his foot rapidly on the ground. Kate leant on her walking stick, ears drooped against her head. She creased her brow in thought for a second. Biting her lip, she nodded in confirmation in response to whatever idea had crossed her mind.

"You know," she said, breaking the slightly awkward silence "all we've been talking about is Caleb, and I've never even met the guy. I think I might go and say hello,"

With that, she began to hobble away from the lake, her quiet footsteps accompanying the steady thump of the walking stick against the ground.

Silver widened his eyes at Sonic, as he knew that a polite conversation with Caleb was the last thing on Kate's mind, and the last thing they needed was for anything to get out of hand.

Nodding, Sonic dashed forwards before Silver had the chance to say anything.

Easily overtaking the unusually slow wolf, he stopped her in her tracks. Slightly annoyed by his action, Kate tried to push past him, but he once again prevented her from moving forwards.

"Kate…you can't start anything with him…you know that, right?" he said, keeping his voice low.

She nodded.

"He wanted me destroyed, Sonic," she whispered, eyeing him seriously "he knows what I am. Whoever he's working for…they're intimidated by me. Wanted me out of the way. Maybe I can stop this,"

Not waiting for a comeback, Kate moved the blue hedgehog aside with her walking stick and continued on her way. Sonic didn't stop her this time. He knew that Kate wouldn't start a fight. It wasn't in her nature. He was more worried about what new rumours Caleb would start up about her, and Sonic knew that was the last thing Kate needed right now.

 ***an hour later***

Kate flumped down on a bench near a fountain, needing to rest her legs. She looked at the walking stick in her hand, disgruntled. Yeah, she was really getting better at walking...

On and off for the past hour, she had been looking for Caleb. Granted, she had no idea what he looked like, so she probably could have missed him, but a molerat in a royal guard's uniform shouldn't have been too hard to find. Kate sighed. Sonic said that Caleb had a habit of popping up where he was least wanted, but now Kate actually needed to find him he was no where to be seen.

Glaring passersby caught her attention, and she looked up from the walking stick. She had seen plenty of these during her walk around Mobotropolis. She thought nothing of it. She couldn't have a repeat of the incident that happened yesterday. Perhaps if this confrontation with Caleb went well, she could find out what he was spreading.

She rolled her eyes and sat back, letting her mind drift off as she rested. Although, her brain went blank. Despite her best efforts, her train of thought kept landing on the past eight months, specifically the six months she was robotisized. Previously, whenever she had thought about it, there was nothing. She could remember up to the point where she was sat in the control room, taking her last breaths as a bright white light blinded her. After that, nothing.

But recently, especially in the past day or so, small snippets had been drifting back to her. Distorted visions of random events kept popping up in her mind; standing in a lab as mechanical arms whirred around her, a tall wall of crystal…she had no idea if she was dreaming this or of they actually happened, but there was something about them that was so frighteningly real she couldn't banish the thoughts from her mind.

Feeling her eyes begin to burn from tears, she took a deep breath and snapped herself out of it, staring at the light blue sky to distract herself. Maybe she should give up on finding Caleb and rest for the remaining afternoon. Yes, that seemed good.

Getting a firm grip on her walking stick, Kate pushed herself up, grunting slightly. She was ready to make her way back to her house when she saw him.

Caleb was stood quite a distance away from her, leaning against the wall of a building. Almost immediately, Kate noticed the air of confidence about him, especially in the slight cocky smirk that seemed to naturally grace his muzzle.

She stood still, her blue eyes locking with his red ones. She stared him out, not to intimidate him, but to invite him. After a few seconds of this, she turned away, not headed to her home, but a quieter section of Mobotropolis, where they could easily talk without the risk of eavesdroppers.

She didn't look round once, but she knew Caleb was following her. He remained at a distance from her, not catching up to her despite her slow and clumsy pace.

Eventually, they arrived at the area that Kate had been leading them to. It was near the city wall. A singular tree stood there to fill the empty patch of land. Very few buildings were nearby, and even then, they were not close to the tree. With no risk of anyone listening in, this was the perfect place to interrogate Caleb.

She leant against the tree, even more tired as her rest on the bench had been cut short. Caleb leant back on the wall, his brow raised at Kate, obviously expecting her to make the first move.

Complying to his expectations, Kate spoke first.

"I've heard a lot about you," she began simply.

Caleb nodded, and propped his right foot up on the wall behind him.

"News travels fast," he said "so, why are we here? I doubt it's for a pleasant conversation,"

Kate didn't say anything for a moment. She felt a pang of annoyance shoot through her at Caleb's cocky sarcasm. Nevertheless, she remained calm.

"I just want to know what you're up to, that's all," she told him, despite knowing that saying that wouldn't achieve anything.

Caleb smirked.

"Oh, really? Well, what do you know already?"

Absent-mindedly, Kate tapped the tip of the walking stick against the tree as she spoke.

"I know you're working for someone else. I know you're plotting to overthrow Elias and tried to kill Sally. I _also_ know that you tried to kill me even though I was clearly alive in a coma," she explained, more sharply than she intended to.

The molerat looked slightly surprised as she reeled off her knowledge, but didn't let it show for long.

"How clever of you," he muttered sarcastically, before chuckling "a-and tell me, what exactly do you plan to achieve with this information?"

Kate's next words were very quiet, but dangerous to the point where Caleb actually grew a little nervous.

"You know what I am, buddy, so you know not to mess with me," she snarled.

Caleb appeared to suppress a shiver, before laughing. Kate furrowed her brow. The laugh was so hearty and stereotypically evil she honestly didn't know if it was fake or not.

"Look at you!" the molerat exclaimed, pretending to wipe tears from his eyes "making _threats_ You can barely walk!"

Kate had a vague thought that Caleb had been watching her trying to walk by the lakeside before, and had apparently taken great joy in her temporary disability. However, this idea was gone as quickly as it arrived. Instead of being offended, Kate snorted.

" _Yeah_ , but I could probably still kick your arse,"

She stuttered a bit as she finished her sentence, a little shocked at herself. She rarely swore, perhaps only once or twice had she sworn in her whole life. However, Caleb was just so irritatingly confident she had to make an exception.

Ignoring Kate's statement, Caleb continued as if she handy spoke at all.

"I mean, even if you could walk, what would you do? You can't do anything against me," he put on a mocking chivalrous voice "anything against me, by extension, is an act against the king himself,"

Kate rolled her eyes, but she knew he was right. She couldn't think of a comeback, and reluctantly remained silent. This conversation had got her nowhere. She had to weed the answer out of him somehow. He was clever, but if she found a way to outsmart him, he might just let something slip.

One of he more probable theories the group had come up with was that it was someone within Mobotropolis who was plotting against Elias, so Kate decided to go with that.

She had to make Caleb believe she was no longer trying to learn the plan. She decided to ask him about his successful rumour spreading, something she could tell would draw out a pride-filled response from Caleb.

"You've managed to turn quite a few people against me," she complimented "what have you even been telling them? Not that I'm a demigod, surely?"

Just as Kate had expected, Caleb puffed up a little in pride, and was obviously happy to answer her question.

"No, considering these people have seen demigods before, Mammoth Mogul, for example, I figured they wouldn't be bothered,"

Kate suppressed a smirk, finding it amusing that Caleb was treating this like a normal conversation. She said nothing as the molerat continued.

"So I thought it would be better to use your robotisization; "a dangerous follower of Eggman who robotisized herself just to be on his side again","

Kate widened her eyes, honestly not believing that people actually bought into this rubbish. No wonder everyone looked so afraid of her…

She didn't ponder on this for too long, as Caleb appeared to be readily telling her everything that he had been doing, so she decided to push him a little further.

"I'm guessing getting the people and Elias to lose faith in us will make it easier for you…" she muttered, intentionally loud so Caleb couldn't help but respond.

"Indeed. Let's just say that after finally getting out of this, stupid, city, my master had a…disliking, towards you morons,"

That was it. What Kate had been waiting for. Her head automatically shot up at Caleb's words, and the corners of her mouth began to tilt upwards into a knowing smirk.

"So!" she said confidently, catching Caleb's attention "the guy you're working for came from Mobotropolis in the first place…thanks…that narrows it down,"

She turned around. Knowing that Caleb wouldn't reveal any more information, she began to limp away. Realising his mistake, Caleb began spluttering. His splutter quickly turned into an angry snarl, however, as he made a sudden advancement towards Kate.

She heard him before he had chance to strike, her sensitive ears picking up his footsteps. She quickly whipped round, swinging the walking stick around rapidly to land a painful blow to Caleb's legs.

Hissing in pain, Caleb stumbled back, clutching the point where the wood had hit him and staring up at Kate with furious red eyes. His stare was met with equally infuriated, piercing orange eyes. The sudden attack on Caleb had apparently disorientated Kate quite a bit, but he didn't dare attempt to strike back.

Kate crouched down to Caleb's level as best she could, using the walking stick as a lever. The orange irises didn't fade back to blue, and they seemed to burn with threat and anger, and Caleb's expression flickered a little in worry.

"That's right, Caleb. The barrier is close to breaking," she muttered darkly, noticing the molerat's slight worry "I know you and your _"master"_ are afraid of me, that's why you wanted me dead, and trust me, you're not gonna want to be around me when it breaks,"

She leaned in, delivering the final line of her threat as nothing more than a deadly whisper.

"Because, I'll tell you now, I _will not_ be taking any _shit_ from the likes of you, is that clear?"

Still rubbing the bottom of his legs to try and relieve the ache, Caleb scowled, but nodded. Seeing this confirmation from the guard, Kate's mood seemed to immediately lift, and she straightened up like nothing had happened. Her eyes shimmered back to their non-threatening royal blue colour, and she resumed her slow limp away from the city walls and back towards the centre of Mobotropolis.

 ***later***

"Kate! Did you find Caleb? How did it go?"

As soon as Kate had walked through the door to Freedom HQ, Sonic, Silver and Sally hadn't hesitated in pelting the wolf with questions. Sally especially, desperate for a way to help her brother.

Kate didn't answer straight away. Her long walk around combined with the confrontation with Caleb had tired her out. She flumped down on the sofa, and unceremoniously dumped the walking stick on the floor with a distasteful look.

She then began to explain everything Caleb had said to her. It didn't take long, as she didn't get that much from him. They spent half an hour tying in the information that Kate had gained with snippets of the conversation that Sally had heard the previous night. What obviously interested them the most was that the person who was working against them came from Mobotropolis in the first place.

There were a number of suspects, but none of them seemed to sound right. Once again, the name refused to make itself known.

"None of this explains why we can't remember who it is…" Sonic mumbled.

Kate shrugged.

"My best guess is that they're altering your memory somehow. Making it harder for you to find them," she suggested.

Silver, who was now sat next to Kate on the sofa, pressed his hand against his forehead.

"Why not just kill us now? Why go to the trouble of spreading rumours and controlling Elias?"

At this, Sally brought up how Caleb's master wasn't at full power, but would be soon. Kate added onto this, using what Caleb had told her about his rumours.

"The rumours…they aren't random," she said "they're not some weird hobby. He's being clever about it. Making people lose faith in us. So when the time comes for Elias to be fully controlled, no one will ask us for help, and we won't get in their way,"

Kate's deduction, although useful, did little to lighten the mood. They felt no relief knowing this, as they knew that they had to find the name of this "master" to find and defeat him, but could only get the name by breaking the spell that inhibited their memory. And to do that, they would have to find the master, which they couldn't do without the name. It was an awful loop that none of them could figure out a solution to.

Desperate for some comic relief, Sonic began a new conversation about Kate hitting Caleb around the legs with a seemingly harmless lump of wood, which all four of them had found great amusement in. They spoke for a while, mimicking the ridiculously chivalrous voice of the molerat, comparing him to other adversaries they had met over the years.

Kate joined in for a while, before Sonic performed an impression of Caleb, repeating the previous comments he had made about Kate's robotisization.

The reference to those events made Kate suddenly fall silent. The other three, too involved in their joyful conversation, didn't notice. Her vision went slightly fuzzy, and a dull ache began in the front of her head. She pressed a gloved hand firmly against her head, hoping that the pressure from her hand would somehow relieve the ache in her head. Her eyes clenched shut, and she hoped that the headache would pass in a minute or two.

When she opened her eyes, however, she was no longer in Freedom HQ. She was no longer sat on the comfortable sofa, but on a small metal chair in the middle of a tiny dark room. In front of her, a gaping hole. In front of that, three computer screens, burning with terrifying red numbers: **"00:00:00"**.

Her breathing quickened and she was paralysed as she saw it happening again. The blinding white light worked it's way out of the hole in front of her, engulfing her. A roaring noise pulsated through her bones. She thought she heard her name, but couldn't be sure over the deafening sound.

Then she felt it. The agonising burn spreading throughout her body, like someone had injected pure lava into her veins. She tried to scream as the familiar pain hit her like a whip, but no sound came out. She felt herself grow faint as the life was sucked out of her.

Her fists clenched, wishing that it would stop….that it would _go away_ … _that it would_ _all go away_ ….

" _Kate!_ "

This time, she heard her name properly. Kate opened her eyes. The burning pain had gone, replaced with a feeling of cold fear. She was trembling, and her breathing hadn't slowed. There was no white light…just three concerned faces staring down at her. Silver was no longer sat by her side, but was stood up along with Sally and Sonic.

"Kate!" he repeated, seeing that he had snapped her back to reality "are you okay?"

Kate had no idea what had just happened, but she could fathom a guess. However, knowing that to be the worst case scenario, she decided to make something up.

"O-oh…erm…" she stammered, her voice trembling like crazy "I…I just zoned out for a minute there…"

Clearly, the other three did not believe this in the slightest. Kate coughed slightly, her throat sore. Had she actually been screaming? No, that would probably have been the first thing they would have brought up. When she questioned their suspicious looks, Sonic raised his brow like it was obvious.

"You're crying,"

Was she? She unclenched her right fist, which she found had gone slightly numb, and raised it to her muzzle. When her hand lowered, she found that it was indeed damp. She also became aware that her eyes were stinging from tears, and the sore throat a result from her crying.

She wiped around her eyes, unsuccessfully clearing them of tears. Unable to stop herself from trembling, she shakily reached down for the walking stick, which still lay discarded on the floor. Seeing her movement, the other three moved out of the way as she slowly rose to her feet.

Kate stood still for a moment. The headache had gone, but her vision was still slightly blurred. Ignoring the stares from her friends, she started to walk towards the door.

"Wait…!" Silver exclaimed suddenly, making Kate stop "Kate…are you okay? Where are you going?"

Kate didn't turn around.

"I'm…I'm fine…" she lied "…I just need to go see Doctor Quack, okay? I'll see you all later…"

She the left HQ without another word, with the bright white light still burnt onto her eyelids and the roaring noise still ringing in her ears.

 **So yea, a lot going on in that chapter. I think we're nearing the end of this story now.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	13. Time

**-slides in- Good evening**

 **Disclaimer: I own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA (well I own her mum and brother as well...but who cares?)**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy :)**

 ***Flashback***

 _It was a warm summer evening. The humid air of the day was now accompanied with a cool breeze that usually came along with the approaching night. Dapples of burnt orange sunlight still shone through the dense leaves on the trees, shimmering on the cool green grass below and the few large tents that occupied the clearing below._

 _In the middle of the clearing, a small, crystalline stream cut through the ground which had a small, makeshift bridge carefully lain across it._

 _Near the bank of the stream, sat a wolf with pure white fur, wearing a slightly darker, flowing summer dress. Her bright royal blue eyes showed nothing but serenity as she watched her two children play tag nearby._ _The youngest, the boy, seemed to be much slower than his older sister. Every time his sibling teased him about being "it", his cyan-tipped tail twitched in agitation._

 _Obviously tired out from trying to catch his sister, he groaned._

 _"Aw, Kate! Can't you be it? I'm tired…" his shoulders drooped sadly, and he pouted, trying to gain some sympathy from her._

 _Kate smiled with manic excitement at her grey-furred brother._

 _"You have to catch me first, James!" she giggled._ _James groaned again, this time louder, to catch the attention of his mother. This worked, and their mother's face turned a little sincere._

 _"Kate, you be "it" for a while, okay? He has been chasing you for quite a long time, now,"_

 _Scowling sulkily, Kate reluctantly nodded. Seeing this, James gave a squeal of delight and began to sprint away from Kate as fast as he could. Her spirit renewed, Kate quickly sped after him._ _Their mother smiled, but then frowned. She knew she would have to take them inside soon, as it was getting late. Although, she also knew that in this part of the country they were in, they rarely had clear summer evenings like this. Usually the cool breeze was instead a bitterly cold wind, and the blue skies were usually joined by light rainclouds and a slight drizzle. This time was special, so she would give the both of them as much time as she could before the sun went down. Plus, they were probably too hyper to come in yet, anyway._

 _She knew her children wouldn't leave the clearing, so the female wolf quickly glanced behind her to view the rest of the colony. Everything seemed quiet. Everyone was settling down for the night or quietly enjoying the last rays of the setting sun._

 _She turned back around as the giggling sounds of her children grew louder. James had sped back towards the stream, Kate close behind him. The young white and cyan wolf was now exhausted from chasing her brother, and evidently was a sore loser. She flopped down on the grass, breathing heavily._

 _"Pfft, I give up…" she muttered, sulking._

 _James, now victorious sat down next to his mother, occasionally grinning smugly in Kate's direction._ _The three of them sat in silence for a few minutes, the dapples of sunlight growing dimmer and dimmer with each passing minute._

 _All of them were peaceful. Their mother sighed. Probably a good opportunity to put the children to bed_...

 _Then came the shouts._

 _The white wolf was up in a heartbeat, whipping around towards the direction of the shouting. It was one of the lookouts, stationed in a large pine tree. The thick branches blocked him from her view, but she could make out what he was saying._

 _"Europa! We have incoming! Evacuate, now! Get to the Star Posts!"_

 _Following his words came a tremendous roar from the sky up above. Europa's ears flattened, realising what was happening. She turned round and grabbed Kate and James by their wrists._

 _Despite her best attempts to keep her voice calm for the sake of her children, she could stop her voice from shaking._

 _"You two…you **do not** leave my sight. Stay close to mummy, okay?"_

 _Her children nodded, growing anxious and upset from their mother's tone of voice._ _Europa began to drag them away, over the small bridge and towards the main area of the colony. The roaring grew louder, and then the tremors hit._

 _It was like the ground was crumbling beneath their feet, and they were nearly thrown to the ground. Instinctively, all three of them looked towards the source of the quake, only to see an enormous wall of fire billow upwards. More aftershocks followed as the large trunks of tree crashed down._ _The second missile quickly followed the other, and Europa continued dragging Kate and James through the woods. No matter how many tremors rocked the world around them, Europa never let go of their wrists._

 _The walls of fire came closer and closer and became more frequent, and the trees and vegetation around them was now alight with flames, and an acrid smoke filled the air. Charred branches and tree trunks crashed down around them. Tents went up in sparks and became nothing but ash. The roaring of flames drowned out any screams for help. Multiple times, they were nearly hit by flaming branches, but Europa managed to stop them with a wave of her hand, and the branches were encased in a blue green glow and we're flung away from them._

 _A flaming trunk falling to the ground stopped them in their path, and James and Kate screamed in shock as Europa suddenly dragged them back away from the shower of sparks and fire the impact had sent up. Europa crouched down to comfort her children, as both of them were now in tears._

 _"Stay close…both of you…stay close…"_

 _She desperately searched round for a way out, and she spotted it: a clear space between two trees. The smoke was getting very thick, but Europa knew they were nearing the Star Posts._

 _They continued to run. How far or how long for they didn't know. They were close. Very close. So close…_

 _Another missile hit, this time much closer. The blast flung all three of them to the side. Europa and James hit the singed grass, but Kate smacked into the tree next to them._ _The back of her head hit the tree hard, and her vision went blurry. She could barely make out the shapes of her mother and James in front of her. She could tell her mother was stooping down towards her. Her voice echoed in her mind, and she could barely focus. The blast had knocked everything out of Kate. She was paralysed._

 _"Kate!" her mother yelled, holding out her arms "Kate! You have to get up, sweetie, come on!"_

 _"I…can't…"_

 _"Kate! Please you have to-!"_

 _She was suddenly cut off, and her panicked royal blue eyes moved to something above them. She screamed, and automatically placed a protective arm around James. There was a crack like thunder as a charred nearby tree collapsed from the damage, and fell right where Europa and James were, and then there was nothing but fire..._

 ***Flashback end***

Kate let out a loud gasp as she violently snapped herself out of her flashback. Her vision was still fuzzy, which she soon discovered was caused by tears.

Annoyed, she wiped them dry with the sleeve of her jacket, and took deep breaths to stop herself from trembling. She could see again. She wasn't in the forest, she was safe in her home.

Sitting back on the sofa she was on, Kate released her clenched fists, which were now beginning to ache. She stared around, familiarising herself again and trying to properly snap out of the flashback.

Post Traumatic Stress. That's what Dr.Quack had told her yesterday. He had told her it wasn't as serious as other cases he had seen, but rather unusual, as she wasn't supposed to actually remember events that happened when she was robotisized. He had also referred Kate to weekly sessions to help her deal with the flashbacks, something she wasn't very eager about.

What was strange was that Kate had never had any problems with her past until now. Perhaps it was another case of PTSD that didn't decide to become a problem until years later. She had managed to sort of push it out of her head for so long now…maybe it was finally making a comeback.

She didn't remember much about the colony she was born in, only that it was on Earth, and in a place called "England". From what she could remember, the colony was doing well, and her mother, the leader, was on the brink of finally contacting the human leaders to introduce Mobius. But then the fire had rained down from the sky, and the world and life that Kate knew was destroyed in flames.

What happened after the tree fell was just broken bits of memory, possibly due to Kate slipping in and out of consciousness at the time. She remembered staggering in the direction of the Star Posts, weak from burns and cuts and the horrible smoke. By the time she had reached the Star Posts, the portal between them was fading, but she leapt in regardless.

Wherever on Mobius the portal had dropped her, she never knew. All she knew was that it was not the rendezvous set out for the colony. She had not seen anyone from the colony since, and she had no idea how many had actually survived the attack.

She was only eight then, and she spent the next three years…well she couldn't actually remember. Everything was a blur. All she knew was that at the end of that three years, she somehow managed to end up in Eggman's grasp.

Kate shuddered. She despised thinking about the three years she had spent on Mobius before she was captured by Eggman, partly because it was just blankness.

Scowling, she scolded herself for focusing on it. She needed to focus on more important things, as the dangers in Mobotropolis were pretty much now at their peak.

She was so lost in thought it was a minute before she realised there was a gentle knocking at the door. She had expected this. She hadn't seen anyone since her episode yesterday, so she knew some concerns had been raised.

Kate stood slowly, her fatigue from lack of sleep giving her slow and clumsy movements. She managed to limp to the door without the aid of the stick, and opened it.

Her mood immediately lifted at the sight of bright gold eyes, and she smiled.

"Oh, hi, Silver," she said brightly "didn't even realise you were knocking,"

Silver brushed it off. Kate knew something was wrong. He had a thoughtful frown on his muzzle and his golden eyes were glazed with concern. Kate's smile faded, and she sighed as she invited him in.

"What's the matter?" she asked, shutting the door.

The white hedgehog stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed in a no-nonsense kind of way.

"I'm the one who should be asking that. You haven't spoken to anyone after you…"zoned out" yesterday,"

Kate bit her lip. She couldn't tell him. Why, she didn't know. For some reason she didn't want to. Her throat clenched up everytime time she tried to mention it.

"I'm fine, Silver," she said, rather convincingly "I just came back to rest,"

 _Lies_. They were _lies_ , and Silver seemed to sense it.

"Uh-huh. What did Quack say?"

Kate's mind went blank. Think! _Think_!

"That I needed to sleep. That's all. I just needed to rest,"

"Yeah, sure, that's convincing…" Kate thought sarcastically. Silver obviously thought the exact same thing.

"Don't lie to me Kate," he said, almost disappointedly "you've been acting weird ever since you got out of the hospital,"

Kate raised her brow. Acting weird? Is that what he said? Did he just sleep through the last eight months?

"Acting weird?" Kate repeated, laughing bitterly "I was a robot for six months, Silver. Or did you miss that memo?"

She didn't mean to snap at him, but the episode she had just gone through had left her tired and irritable. After realising she was being overly harsh on her friend, Kate calmed down. Silver looked shocked and rather upset.

"I'm…I'm sorry…" Kate muttered "it's just…how do you expect me to act, Silver? That's eight months…I'll never get them back…"

He didn't appear to be listening as he faced away from her, and seemed to nod in a passive aggressive way. Despite her better judgement, Kate's temper rose again.

"What?! Do you expect me to act normal? Pretend it never happened? Why are you so concerned about the way I'm acting?"

Silver lost patience, and his head snapped back towards Kate, surprising the wolf. She hadn't expected Silver to suddenly lose his temper like this. It was incredibly unusual for him to show any aggression towards his friends.

"Because the last time you acted like this you got robotisized!"

There was a ringing silence. The two of them stared at each other, their tempers still running high. However, the more they looked at each other's equally tired and worn out expressions, the more their anger ebbed away to the point where it was non-existant. Still, none of them spoke, neither of them knowing what to say.

The silence lasted until Silver sighed heavily, rubbing his hand on his forehead.

"When I saw you…climbing out of that rubble on the Death Egg...everything kind of…stopped," he got out after some difficulty "I…I couldn't bring myself to believe it…I didn't believe it for about a week after...it was like you were dead…"

He paused and let out a choking sound as he cleared his throat. Kate too, began to tear up. This was the first time anyone had recounted the first few minutes of her robotisization. Everyone had avoided the subject. All she remembered was seeing herself advance towards her friends, and she had no idea that Silver had felt this way about it.

Silver continued, looking at her sadly.

"I...I found it so hard being here without you…" he admitted "…and I'm terrified that it's going to happen again,"

He stopped talking, and Kate's eyes closed, squeezing out the few tears that had formed. She hadn't really the effect it had had on Silver, and hearing him speak like this had brought over a wave of emotion. Opening her eyes, she found him scanning her intently, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She noticed that his arms were slightly outstretched, as though instinctively.

Not looking him in the eye, Kate automatically accepted his invitation and pulled him into an embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around him. All of Kate's anger and worry slipped away as she felt him return the embrace. They stood there for at least a minute, neither of them wanting to part with the other's warmth and comfort.

Kate spoke, still not stepping away from Silver. Her voice was muffled against her shoulder.

"I can't sleep at night, Silver, because I can't stop thinking about everything I did to you when I was…"

She trailed off, lifting her head up so she could speak to him properly. She took a deep breath.

"I…I'm fine, Silver…I just need _time_. Just some time to at least try and get past what happened,"

He met her eyes, and began to pull away from the embrace.

"You sure you're okay?"

No. No she wasn't. Far from it.

"I'm sure…" Kate lied, before vaguely muttering "…I just need _time_ …"

Maybe that was right. Maybe that was all she needed. How long had it been since she left the hospital? Three days? How long had it been since she had woken up? Just over a week, maybe two weeks! And she expected everything to be fine? If she just _waited._ Waited for everything to cool down. Allowed herself time to get over it…things would hopefully improve quickly.

Silver nodded, although something in his eye showed Kate he knew she wasn't bring entirely truthful.

It was a moment or two before they both realised they were still very close to each other, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. Despite both of them becoming aware of their proximity neither of them backed away.

Kate's breathing quickened, whether it was from panic or something else, she didn't know. There was a weird burning in her chest. Still, for some reason, she didn't move away from him as his stare bore deep into her own eyes.

Then, almost simultaneously, even though neither of them had uttered a single word, they shifted. Not away from each other, but somehow even closer than they already were.

Kate's arms remained round Silver's shoulders, and Silver tentatively placed his hands on her waist. Their eyes began to close as their heads moved closer. Their noses touched, and their lips were a breath apart…

They suddenly snapped apart, both of them trembling uncontrollably. They stared, wide-eyed, at each other for a split second, before they realised the position they were in. Kate's hands jerked away from Silver's shoulders and she held them awkwardly at her side. Silver stepped back. Both of them were blushing furiously and refused to look each other in the eye.

There was silence. A very awkward silence which lasted for a painfully long few seconds. Silver cleared his throat, but he couldn't stop it from trembling.

"S-s-so you're good?"

Kate nodded, taking a seat on the sofa and staring blankly at the table.

"Yeah…yeah I'm good,"

Hearing this, the white hedgehog began to take weird side steps towards the door.

"Right…good…I'll er…see you later…or not…I don't know…"

Kate, even though she clearly was in a world of her own, nodded anyway.

"Yeah…sounds…sounds great,"

Not having anything else to say, Silver hastily made his way out of Kate's home, leaving the ivory wolf in deep thought.

After a moment, she looked up at the door, a curious, yet slightly hopeful smile across her muzzle.

 **A bit of a shorter chapter to be honest. Or maybe it isn't. I don't know...I lost it about half way through.**

 **Anyway, as always, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	14. Realisation

**26 days till Endgame :D**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate. The rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

 ***the next day, just outside Mobotropolis***

Shadow held up a piece of crystallised plant, examining it closely, moving a finger along the grooves and ridges. Sonic watched on curiously.

"You ever seen anything like this before?" he asked.

The dark hedgehog didn't answer for another minute. He instead placed the chunk next to the original plant and crouched down to look at the entire thing. He tapped it a few times before standing up again.

"Never," he said "but the energy signature is similar. It's like-"

"The Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic interjected suddenly "yeah, Nicole found that as well,"

A little peeved by Sonic's interruption, Shadow carried on.

"Someone definitely used one to do this. Who or why, I don't know,"

His words made Sonic scowl. He appreciated Shadow's help, he really did, but he was just telling Sonic what he already knew. Confirming theories that weren't really useful.

Shadow seemed to sense Sonic's thoughts, and crossed his arms rather impatiently as he noticed his scowl.

"If you knew this already, why ask me?"

Sonic's scowl faded, and his expression was overcome with an unusual look of bitter hopelessness. He took a long intake of breath before sighing heavily.

"Call it grasping at straws," he muttered darkly "whoever this is…they're like a million steps ahead of us. Sally spoke to Elias this morning…he still wouldn't budge. None of us know what to do,"

Distastefully, he landed a hard kick on the chunk of crystal Shadow and previously been looking at. He watched as the crystal bounced away.

"Things are just going from bad to worse. We're running out of ideas…"

He trailed off, his gaze focused on Mobotropolis sadly. Even here, he could hear the bustling sounds of the city as people went about their day to day business. What would happen to his home? Obviously this guy meant serious business…what was he planning to do? To take over? To destroy the city?

He pushed these thoughts out of his mind, and another vague and unusual thought replaced them. He loved adventure and action. In fact he lived for it. All his life. But recently he had been having a nagging feeling that he just wanted it to stop. For the first time, he wanted a peaceful life, one free of Eggman and any other random dangers that decided to pop up occasionally.

Sonic zoned back into reality as he heard Shadow telling him he was going to head back to G.U.N. The blue hedgehog suddenly whipped around as he remembered something.

"Oh, shoot!" he exclaimed, catching the attention of his counterpart "Shadow, have you heard from Kate?"

"No, why? Is she alright?"

Scratching behind his ear in a thoughtful way, Sonic shrugged.

"Well…she had a bit of a funny moment a couple days ago," he began "she told us she "zoned out" but, I went to Doctor Quack yesterday and he told me she had a case of PTS. I haven't seen her since that happened,"

Shadow closed his eyes and frowned, when he opened them again, he pointed at Sonic's hand.

"Can't you track her?"

He meant the wrist communicator. Each one had a tracker built in for emergencies. Sonic explained that, for some reason, Kate had managed to block it.

"Not even Nicole could find her. Has she blocked you too?"

Shadow didn't answer. Instead, he began to fiddle around with his own communicator. Sonic spoke as he watched Shadow rather absent mindedly.

"I think this whole mess has made it worse for her, to be honest," he said vaguely "she got out of that coma like what, a week ago? And then all this…"

He trailed off, partly because he was aware Shadow wasn't really paying attention. A little miffed, he stood patiently as Shadow tried to track the whereabouts of his sister.

"Got her," he said at last "she's at Green Hill. I'll go and get her now,"

Frowning, Sonic looked at the coordinates on the small display screen of Shadow's communicator. He recognised the numbers, and his heart sank.

"No…no…I'll go get her. I know where she is,"

Slightly annoyed, Shadow gestured to his wrist communicator.

"So do I,"

Cobalt began to stretch his legs, getting ready to sprint the way to Green Hill.

"Yes…but I know _why_ ,"

 ***a short while later, Green Hill Zone***

Sonic was nothing but a blue blur as he sped along the yellow checkered path, following the path the Tornado had taken over two months ago. He wasn't entirely certain that Kate was indeed at the waterfall, but if Quack was right and Kate was having flashbacks, she was likely to be there.

He finally grinded to a halt at the river leading up to the waterfall. The lack of the roaring waterfall still awaited him around the corner, but he could hear the sound of pouring water.

Still expecting a horde of robots to leap out at him, Sonic edged slowly around the rock he had previously hidden behind. No Egg Pawns had come out to "greet" him though, so he fully emerged from his hiding spot.

Sure enough, Kate was stood in front of the waterfall on the small crystal platform that had formed over the plunge pool. Next the the wall of crystal, a small stream of water had appeared to have cut around the blockade and a smaller waterfall had begun next to its crystal predecessor.

Sonic made his way along the bank of the river until he was stood besides the plunge pool. Kate didn't look at him. She was running her hand over the large crack and dent that was the result of her metal form flinging Sonic into the crystal. He could tell by the look on her face. She remembered.

Still not looking at him, she spoke, her voice quiet and solemn.

"You said I didn't hurt anyone badly, Sonic,"

The disappointment in her voice made Sonic cringe slightly.

"You had just woken up. You didn't need to hear it,"

She didn't reply. Her hand lowered, but she continued to silently stare at the crack. Sonic moved a bit further up the edge of the plunge pool, trying to get her look at him.

"I didn't think you'd remember,"

Kate took a deep breath, and rubbed her head in a strained way.

"I remember...bits. Just random memories. But I'm beginning to piece together what's real and what's not," she murmured, her hand automatically returning to the crystal "I've been getting flashbacks…post traumatic stress, apparently…things have been coming back to me,"

She fell silent, shuddering. She began to edge off the platform to join Sonic on the bank.

"So why are you here?" Sonic said, a little stern "just to make things harder for yourself?"

Kate chuckled as she stepped off the shelf of crystal, and Sonic felt a bit of relief as Kate began to act a little with her old self again.

"Uh…heh…actually, I came across this place by accident," she said casually "I came out here to think by myself for a while. I guess I came this way automatically," she paused as she appeared to read his mind "I turned off my tracker just so I could get some time alone. Sorry if I worried you,"

Sonic waved off her apology.

"Eh…no worries," he told her "Silver told me he saw you yesterday, and that you were fine. I was just making sure,"

For some reason, the mention of Silver suddenly caught Kate's attention, and she stared at Sonic, wide eyed.

"S-Silver?" she stammered "what else did he tell you?"

Curious, Sonic smirked slightly.

"Nothing, just that you talked. Why? What happened?"

His question made a pink tinge appear on her muzzle, and she quickly turned away to hide her blush.

"N-nothing. I was just wondering. We just…talked…"

She cleared her throat as she trailed off. Despite his new curiosity, Sonic felt a wave of relief wash over him. She wasn't here because she was overcome with the flashbacks or the guilt, she was here for…what?

"What have you been thinking about?"

Obviously happy for a change in subject, Kate began to pace rather rapidly, once again rubbing her head.

"This…person…whoever's plotting against Elias…Caleb said they started off in Mobotropolis," she began "so I've been thinking…who isn't here that was here before?"

Sonic couldn't tell if this was rhetorical or directed at him. It turned out to be the former as Kate carried on, talking to herself more than Sonic.

"It wasn't recent...you would have noticed…whatever mind-spell is on you, it would have been less effective if it was recent…"

Kate trailed off, losing herself in thought. She was facing away from him, and was silent for a long time, so long Sonic was sure she had fallen asleep standing up. As soon as he had thought this, however, she slowly turned around to face him.

Her expression was odd, like she had a strong sense of certainty but was still unsure. Still, she didn't speak for another few seconds.

"Who escaped? From the Detention Centre?"

This was far from what Sonic was expecting, and he shrugged.

"I don't know…no one?"

This was apparently the wrong answer, and Kate shook her head feverishly.

"No! No. Not recently. Before this. Before the Death Egg," she struggled to think "when Mephiles attacked the Detention Centre, Sally said someone had escaped. I can't remember…who was it?"

Sonic tapped his foot on the ground, his finger and thumb cupping his chin as he thought.

"Oh, er…it was…" a sudden strike of realisation mixed with horror shot across his face "…Naugus…it was Naugus…"

The realisation quickly evolved into a desperate panic.

"It's Naugus! The crystal! I said I recognised it! It messes with Nicole's nanites!" he exclaimed, nearly shouting " _how did we not realise it was Naugus!_?"

Kate desperately tried to calm Sonic down, as she didn't really know who this "Naugus" was.

"Sonic! Calm down! Who is this guy?"

"Trouble," Sonic told her "we have to get back home,"

Nodding, though still having absolutely no idea, Kate gripped Sonic by his shoulders and began to push him to leave.

"Right…you go...I'll catch up..."

Sonic nodded, and just got ready to sprint away, before he stopped.

"What about you?"

Kate smiled at him rather sheepishly.

"I managed to get here without my stick but I'm still pretty slow. I'll just hold you up," she nodded at him "go,"

Giving a thumbs up to Kate, Sonic quickly whipped round before speeding off back towards Mobotropolis, leaving nothing but a trail of dust behind him.

 **So yeah bit of a shorter chapter there. It's just to lead in to the next chapter, honestly** **.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


	15. The Death of Freedom

**F I N A L C H A P T E R**

 **Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team SEGA**

 **Anyway, enjoy :)**

"All this time…it was Naugus! How _stupid_ are we? It was obvious!"

Sonic had just returned from Green Hill, and he, Sally, Silver and the rest of the Freedom Fighters were storming through Mobotropolis to get to Castle Acorn. Sally in particular, was especially enraged at the fact that Naugus had managed to hoodwink them for so long.

"Don't beat yourself up, Sal'," said Sonic "none of us realised. He was controlling us,"

Sally didn't answer, but took an even quicker pace. Sonic jogged to catch up with her.

"Caleb has to be his apprentice…" he muttered before adding "I wonder what he did to Geoffrey…"

This obviously wasn't the priority in Sally's mind, however, as she pretty much ignored what Sonic was saying as she continued to continously switch from a brisk walk to a jog.

Suddenly, she stopped as the low rumble of voices close by became obvious to them. They were close to Castle Acorn. As the group stopped and listened, more and more Mobians were rushing past them, glancing at them quickly before hurrying to join whatever crowd was forming.

Over the rumble of voices, a familiar voice could be heard, magnified to the point where they could clearly distinguish who was speaking. Elias.

Sally's large ears flattened, and she abruptly burst into a sprint, following the sound.

"Oh… _no no no no_ …what is he doing?"

The rest quickly followed the Princess. Silver, however, had remained where he was, looking behind him anxiously. Sonic, noticing his hesitation, stopped in his tracks and went back over to him.

"Silver? Dude? What are you doing?"

Silver weakly pointed behind him.

"Where's Kate? She can't still be in Green Hill, can she?"

Sonic nodded, but then shook his head, but then shrugged.

"Ye-no…I don't know," he stammered, before adding feverishly "we have to go,"

He sped off without another word, needing to catch up with Sally and the others. Silver didn't move for another few seconds, looking around desperately for the white wolf before he too followed the others towards the rumble of voices.

When he caught up, he had to force himself through the crowd, who all gave him dirty looks as he made his way through. Elias' voice was much clearer now. Even though he was still tangled within the murmuring crowd, Silver could make out what he was saying. His voice was monotone and bland, like he was reading off a sheet of paper.

"It is with a heavy heart that I abdocate my royal duties," he drawled blankly "but I believe it is for the best of this city that I give up the crown to a much more worthy successor,"

Silver finally managed to break through the crowd, which he discovered were gathered at the bottom of the steps leading up to the castle. At the top, in front of the huge doors, stood Elias, his empty expression gazing out at the crowd.

His words had made Sally rush up the steps two at a time to get to him. She grasped him firmly by the shoulders, shouting his name loudly, her voice beginning to choke slightly.

"Elias! _Elias!_ Snap out of it! This isn't right!"

Elias' expression didn't change, and he replied in the same tone, as if everything he was saying was scripted.

"This is my decision, Sally. This is what's best for the people,"

Sally's tone became more desperate.

"No, Elias! This isn't you speaking! It's-!"

A new, awfully familiar voice interrupted her, and Sally begrudgingly turned her head round to face the voice, still keeping hold of the controlled Elias protectively.

"Well, you heard him, princess, it was _his_ decision,"

The voice was more of a hissing noise, and belonged to a large figure that had just emerged from the crowd. Numerous gasps welcomed the new arrival.

The Chaos Emerald in Naugus' staff glittered in the sun as the navy-cladded wizard slowly advanced up the steps, his fangs curved into a vicious grin as he advanced towards the doors of the castle.

Down below, the Freedom Fighter's watched on with hatred. With Elias and Sally in such vulnerable positions, they didn't dare try anything.

"Long time, no see, freak!" Sonic called up at Naugus "guessing Caleb is your little servant. What happened to Geoffrey?"

He didn't expect an answer, but Naugus' manic grin grew wider.

"Geoffrey was too weak, and was useless to me," he snarled before adding "I did what had to be done,"

It took a moment before Sonic realised what Naugus was implying. His heart plummeted. Sure, Geoffrey had betrayed them a while ago, but he was still an old friend.

Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but Sally took the words right out of his mouth.

"You're insane!" she blurted out.

Naugus didn't say anything, but stepped up so he was on equal level with Sally and Elias. He leant down, his grin now replaced with an angry snarl. He stopped when his head was equal with Sally's, his sharp horn inches from her face.

"Give me the crown,"

Sally stepped back, her chin tilted upwards defiantly. In response, she gave a simple shake of her head.

"Never,"

Naugus had expected this. Obviously Sally wouldn't have given up so easily. Maybe even a few of the citizens below would have fought back. Accepting her answer, he stood up straight, and turned to face the crowd again.

Very sceptical about Naugus' response, Sonic glanced at Sally briefly to signal that this was her chance to get Elias away from Naugus. Nodding curtly, Sally guided her brother down the steps, who followed her in a hazy, dreamlike fashion. Still, Naugus didn't do anything.

However, as soon as they had reached the rest of the Freedom Fighters at the base of the steps, Naugus held out his arms, as if to embrace the whole city. The staff he held in the claw that was his left hand was elevated high into the air, almost threateningly.

"Good people of Mobotropolis!" he boomed, in a chivalrous tone very uncharacteristic of him "your pathetic king and the Freedom Fighters have led you astray!"

He began to pace.

"Six months it took for them to destroy the Death Egg," he continued "they have become disconnected with you all, and are only interested in their own needs,"

There were murmurs of assent and nods from the surrounding crowd. Even dirtier looks were now being shot in the direction of the group at the front. It was too late. Naugus had managed to win them over.

The wizard clearly knew this, but continued on regardless.

"They threaten the security of this vibrant city! They have allowed a former slave of Doctor Eggman's into these walls!"

More murmurs from the crowd, now accompanied with a few cries of protest. Silver stepped forward to whisper to Sonic, not wanting to set anything off with Naugus.

"He can't mean Kate? Can he?"

Sonic just shrugged, waiting to see what Naugus would say next. Surprisingly, he didn't say a word, but turned his head towards the doors of the castle expectantly. As if on cue, the doors creaked open slowly, and there was the sound of an evident struggle from inside the castle.

Out emerged Caleb, struggling to keep a prisoner within his grasp. As they came into to bright sunlight, the person he had held in his arms became distinguishable.

It was Kate. Her eyes were clenched shut as she desperately clawed against the arms clamped over her chest and throat. She was very beaten. The white fur on her face was stained dark red in places and one of her eyes was badly swollen. She was growling viciously at Caleb, weak but still fighting.

As soon as he had seen her, Silver had darted forward, propelling himself into the air with his psychokinesis and heading straight for Caleb.

" _Kate!_ "

Naugus, obviously highly amused, lowered his arms, and brought his staff down so the bottom of it hit the stone. When the staff contacted the ground, the Chaos Emerald glowed brightly, and some kind of invisible force knocked Silver clean out of the air. The white hedgehog dropped like a stone and tumbled down the steps, landing at Antoine's feet.

The coyote immediately knelt down to check on Silver, before giving Sonic a reassuring nod as Silver stirred a little. Now beginning to lose his calm composure slightly, Sonic stepped forwards.

"Let her go, Naugus, no one has to get hurt,"

The wizard ignored him, and pointed to Kate with the end of his staff.

"The Freedom Fighters have let a monster into this city! They have allowed this…"thing" to mingle with your children and family! This wolf is the symbol of their recklessness!"

He gave a nod to Caleb, who placed a red-gloved hand atop of Kate's head. The contact seemed to make Kate stiffen and paralyse out of fear, and she shook her head lightly.

"Don't! Please, _don't!_ " she screamed suddenly, breaking out of her paralysis and once again struggling against Caleb's hold.

Then, Caleb's hand became alight with a weird lilac energy, and Kate began to scream in pain and terror and violently writhed in Caleb's hold.

Silver, although he had barely recovered, started forwards again, as did Sonic. Both of them, however, we're stopped and thrown to the ground by a wall of the same invisible force that had previously knocked Silver down.

Kate continued to scream, continously repeating the words "stop!" and "get out of my head!". This lasted for a agonisingly long ten seconds or so, by with time her friends were completely horrified and helpless. Caleb finally let go, and Kate stumbled forwards, clutching her head.

She stumbled down the steps before collapsing in front of Sonic and the others, grunting and snarling and cursing under her breath. The wall of energy had disappeared, and Silver skidded to his knees to help her up.

As he gripped her round the shoulders, Kate's head snapped up. Her eyes were bright orange, and Silver jerked away his arms in surprise, but didn't move away from her. Kate gritted her teeth, and growled.

"Get…away…"

No sooner had those words forced their way out from her mouth, Kate convulsed, and her features began to change. Her fur shifted from bright white to dark grey, and the blue stripe turned darker. She let out a strangled yell, frightening the Mobians who had gathered around her to observe, before she fell on her side and her fur returned to normal. She curled into a helpless ball on the ground, trembling and twitching occasionally.

This had sent up an uproar within the crowd. Accusations of Egg Legion and spy were thrown around, and it was the best her friends could do to shield Kate from the swarm of angry onlookers.

Sonic obviously knew what was happening better than the others did, so he leant down the comfort Kate.

"It's okay, that wasn't your fault…" be murmured before asking "how…how did they get you?"

Kate's voice was weak and full of fear. Whatever had been projected into her mind obviously hadn't worn off yet.

"I-I-I'm s-still p-pretty slow, Sonic,"

The blue hedgehog sighed, before smiling sadly. She was talking about Green Hill. That's where they had got her.

"Next time, I'll carry you,"

Appreciating the attempt to lighten the mood, Kate gave a hoarse chuckle, before clenching her eyes shut as she rested.

Meanwhile, an argument had broken out between Sally and a group of onlookers.

"Don't you understand?" she snapped "he caused that! Not her! He provoked her!"

The ringleader of the group, an elderly beige dog, angrily pointed a finger at Kate.

"So what? We have to live in fear in case we provoke it? What about the children? Naugus is right! You're only concerned about your own!"

There were nods of agreement. Antoine now stepped up to the defence.

"As you clearly saw, Naugus is ze only person at fault here!" he spat "he has been telling nothing but lies! Ze only reason you are supporting him is because you are afraid!"

The dog scrunched up his face as if Antoine had just said something horribly offensive and rude.

"We support him because he is right! He isn't afraid to point out your flaws and mistakes! We need leadership like his!"

Multiple cheers and applause met the old dog's words, and whatever argument Sally or Antoine had was easily drowned out by the din.

Naugus, who had been watching with satification at what he had caused, spoke again, his speech now directed at the Freedom Fighters. The sound of his voice stopped the cheers almost immediately.

"I think the people have spoken!" he shouted victoriously "now, give me the crown!"

Sally was as defiant as ever, and stepped in front of Elias protectively, who still had a vague expression despite all that had gone on. She half expected Caleb to come and forcefully retrieve the crown from Elias, but Sally was completely taken by surprise when the elderly dog crept up behind her and snatched the crown from Elias' head.

They didn't dare try to retrieve it. Things were bad enough already, but attacking an elderly citizen for a crown was bound to make things worse.

The dog limped up the stairs towards Naugus, holding out the crown proudly. He stopped two or three steps below him, and lifted the crown up towards him.

Naugus took it, turning it over in his claw, relishing the moment. Then, carefully, as if the thing was made of glass, he lifted it up and carefully placed it on his own head.

Thunders of applause and cheers spontaneously erupted from the crowd. Naugus was speaking again, but it wasn't distinguishable over the roar of the crowd. Sonic and the others caught words like "peace" and "generosity", words which they knew were complete and utter lies.

The rounds of applause stirred Kate, and she groaned from the noise and began muttering to herself. Despite the din, Sonic and Silver, who were the closest to Kate, could make out what she was saying, and although she was barely holding on to consciousness, her sarcasm managed to sneak in to her statement.

"And that," she breathed darkly "that is the sound of the death of freedom,"

 **Ta-da. The End! Fini!**

 **Not sure when number 5 will be out. I have the plot, just need to think of a way to start it off :P**

 **Anywho, I hope you enjoyed Return!**

 **Rate and Review!**

 **~W.O.T~**


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